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British English
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British English (BrE) is a broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere.[1] It includes all the varieties of English used within the UK, including those found in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Some may also use the term more widely, to include other forms such as Hiberno-English (spoken in Ireland).[2]
Although the vast majority of people in Britain speak English, either as their first or as a second language, the term 'British English' is rarely used within Britain itself. The term is more commonly used by speakers of other dialects, such as 'American' and 'Australian' English, to describe the divergences that have developed over time between their own native dialect and those used in Britain.
There are slight regional variations in formal written English in the United Kingdom (for example, although the words wee and little are interchangeable in some contexts, one is more likely to see wee written by a Scottish or Northern Irish person than by an English person). Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within the United Kingdom, and this could be described as "British English". The forms of spoken English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken, and a uniform concept of "British English" is therefore more difficult to apply to the spoken language. According to Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English (p. 45), the phrase British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions in the word British, and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Dialects
• 3 Accent
• 4 Standardisation
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 Notes
[edit] History
The widespread use of English worldwide is largely attributable to the power of the former British Empire, and this is reflected in the continued use of the language in both its successor (the Commonwealth of Nations) and many other countries. In the days before radio and television, most communication across the English-speaking world was by the written word. This helped to preserve a degree of global uniformity of the written language. However, due to the vast separation distances involved, variations in the spoken language began to arise. This was also aided by émigrés to the empire coming into contact with other, non-British cultures. In some cases, resulting variations in the spoken language have led to these being reflected in minor variations in written language usage, grammar and spellings in other countries.
[edit] Dialects
See also Survey of English Dialects
Dialects and accents vary not only between the nations of Britain, for example in Scotland and Wales, but also within these countries themselves. There are also differences in the English spoken by different socio-economic groups in any particular region.
The major divisions are normally classified as English English (or English as spoken in England, which comprises Southern English dialects, Midlands English dialects and Northern English dialects), Welsh English, Scottish English and the closely related dialects of the Scots language.
The various British dialects also differ in the words which they have borrowed from other languages. The Scottish and Northern dialects include many words originally borrowed from Old Norse and a few borrowed from Gaelic.
[edit] Accent
The most common form of English used by the British ruling class is that of south-east England (the area around the capital, London, and the ancient English university towns of Oxford and Cambridge). This form of the language is known as the "Received Standard", and its accent is called Received Pronunciation (RP), which is improperly regarded by many people outside the UK as "the British accent". Earlier it was held as better than other accents and referred to as the King's (or Queen's) English, or even "BBC English". Originally this was the form of English used by radio and television. However, there is now much more tolerance of variation than there was in the past; for several decades other accents have been accepted and are frequently heard, although stereotypes about the BBC persist. English spoken with a mild Scottish accent has a reputation for being especially easy to understand. Moreover, only approximately 5 percent of Britons speak RP[citation needed], and it has evolved quite markedly over the last 40 years.
Even in the south east there are significantly different accents; the local inner east London accent called Cockney is strikingly different from RP and can be difficult for outsiders to understand.
There is a new form of accent called Estuary English that has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some features of Received Pronunciation and some of Cockney. In London itself, the broad local accent is still changing, partly influenced by Caribbean speech. Londoners speak with a mixture of these accents, depending on class, age, upbringing, and so on.
Since the mass immigration to Northamptonshire in the 1940s and its close accent borders, it has become a source of various accent development. There, nowadays, one finds an accent known locally as the Kettering accent, which is a mixture of many different local accents, including East Midlands, East Anglian, Scottish and Cockney. This accent is found as North as Melton Mowbray, and as south as Bedford. Also, found in the town of Corby 5 miles north, one can find Corbyite, which unlike the Kettering accent, is largely based on Scottish.
Outside the south east there are, in England alone, at least eight families of accents easily distinguished by natives:
• West Country (South West England)
• East Anglian
• West Midlands
• East Midlands
• Liverpool (Scouse)
• Manchester and other east Lancashire accents
• Yorkshire
• Newcastle (Geordie) and other north-east England accents
Although some of the stronger regional accents may sometimes be difficult for some English-speakers from outside Britain to understand, almost all 'British English' accents are mutually intelligible amongst the British themselves, with only occasional difficulty between very diverse accents. However, modern communications and mass media have reduced these differences significantly. In addition, most British people can to some degree temporarily 'swing' their accent (and particularly vocabulary) towards a more neutral form of 'standard' English at will, to reduce difficulty where very different accents are involved, or when speaking to foreigners.
[edit] Standardisation
As with English around the world, the English language as used in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland is governed by convention rather than formal code: there is no equivalent body to the Académie française or the Real Academia Española, and the authoritative dictionaries (for example, Oxford English Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Chambers Dictionary, Collins Dictionary) record usage rather than prescribe it. In addition, vocabulary and usage change with time; words are freely borrowed from other languages and other strains of English, and neologisms are frequent.
For historical reasons dating back to the rise of London in the 9th century, the form of language spoken in London and the East Midlands became standard English within the Court, and ultimately became the basis for generally accepted use in the law, government, literature and education within Britain. To a great extent, modern British spelling was standardised in Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), although previous writers had also played a significant role in this and much has changed since 1755. Scotland, which only underwent parliamentary union in 1707, still has a few independent aspects of standardisation, especially within its autonomous legal system.
East Anglian English
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East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia. This easternmost area of England was probably home to the first-ever form of language which can be called English. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into the formation of Standard English, and contributed importantly to the development of American English and (to a lesser extent) Southern Hemisphere Englishes[citation needed]; it has also experienced multilingualism on a remarkable scale. However, it has received little attention from linguistic scholars over the years.
East Anglian English contains
• Norfolk dialect (Broad Norfolk)
• Suffolk dialect
English English
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English English is a term that has been applied to the English language as spoken in England. In English-speaking countries outside the UK, the term "British English" is more frequently used for this variety of English; however, Peter Trudgill in Language in the British Isles introduced the term English English (EngEng), and this term is now generally recognised in academic writing in competition with Anglo-English and English in England.
In this usage the term British English has a wider meaning, and is usually (but not always) reserved to describe the features common to English English, Welsh English, Hiberno-English, and Scottish English. According to Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English (p. 45), the phrase British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions in the word British, and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".
The different accents and dialects that exist in Britain are a source of interest for many. Joseph Wright compiled the English Dialect Dictionary, which is now extremely valuable. The 2006 BBC Voices survey, the more comprehensive Survey of English Dialects and the existence of societies that seek to maintain regional dialects all study the diversity within the nation. Dialect research papers are often sold for hundreds of pounds. It is not uncommon for people to be very proud of their local accent/dialect.
Estuary English
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Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.
Estuary English is a name given to the form(s) of English widely spoken in South East England and the East of England; especially along the River Thames and its estuary, which is where the two regions meet. Estuary English is commonly described as a hybrid of Received Pronunciation (RP) and South Eastern Accents, particularly from the London, Kent and Essex area — i.e., the area around the Thames Estuary. The variety first came to public prominence in an article by David Rosewarne in the Times Education Supplement in October 1984. [1] Rosewarne argued that it may eventually replace RP as the Standard English pronunciation. Studies have indicated that Estuary English is not a single coherent form of English; rather, the reality behind the construct consists of some (but not all) phonetic features of working-class London speech spreading at various rates socially into middle-class speech and geographically into other accents of south-eastern England [2] [3].
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Features
• 2 Use of Estuary English
• 3 References
• 4 See also
• 5 External links
[edit] Features
Estuary English shares the following features with Cockney pronunciation:
• Use of intrusive R.
• A broad A in words such as bath, grass, laugh, etc. This is often seen as the litmus test of a South-East accent, but it has only spread to rural areas of the south-east in the last forty years.
• T-glottalisation, i.e., using some glottal stops: that is, "t" is sounded as a glottal occlusion instead of being fully pronounced when it occurs before a consonant or at the end of words, as in "eight" or "McCartney" and it can also occur between vowels, as in Cockney or southern dialects e.g. "water" (pronounced as [wɔːʔə]).
• Yod-coalescence, i.e., the use of the affricates /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ instead of the clusters /dj/ and /tj/ in words like "dune" and "tune".
• Diphthong shifts, e.g., the diphthong in words like "I" becomes [ɑɪ], the diphthong in words like "brown" becomes [æʊ], and the diphthong in words like "face" becomes [ɛɪ], [ɐɪ], [ʌɪ], or [æɪ].
• L-vocalisation, i.e., the use of [o] where RP uses [ɫ] in the final positions or in a final consonant cluster.
But the following characteristics of Cockney pronunciation are generally not considered to be present in Estuary English [1] [4] [5]:
• Th-fronting, i.e., replacement of [θ, ð] with [f, v] (e.g. [fɪŋk] for think)
• H-dropping, i.e., Dropping [h] in stressed words (e.g. [æʔ] for hat)
However, it should be noted that the boundary between Estuary English and Cockney is far from clear-cut [6] [7], hence even these features of Cockney might occur occasionally in Estuary English. In particular, it has been suggested that th-fronting is "currently making its way" into Estuary English,[5] e.g. those from Isle of Thanet often refer to Thanet as "Plannit Fannit" (Planet Thanet).
[edit] Use of Estuary English
Estuary English is widely encountered throughout the south and south-east of England, particularly among the young. Many consider it to be a working-class accent, though it is by no means limited to the working class. Some people adopt the accent as a means of "blending in", appearing to be more working class, or in an attempt to appear to be "a common man" — sometimes this affectation of the accent is derisively referred to as "Mockney". For example, Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, has been heard to adopt the accent at times in TV interviews[citation needed] Diana, Princess of Wales (born 1961) was sometimes said to use elements of Estuary English, though they were quite mild in her case[citation needed]. By contrast the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips (born 1981) speaks with a pronounced Estuary English accent[citation needed]. As some Australian scientists have found out researching the Queen's anniversary speeches, even she has shifted her accent slightly towards what is called Estuary. [8] [9]
Guernsey English
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Channel Island English. (Discuss)
Guernsey English is the dialect of English spoken by natives of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, distinguished by the fact that it has considerable influence from Dgèrnésiais, the variety of Norman indigenous to Guernsey. The dialect contains terms such as "buncho" (from Dgèrnésiais: bond d'tchu) for the English "somersault".
Hiberno-English
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Hiberno-English is the form of the English language spoken in Ireland. Hiberno-English is also referred to as Irish English and occasionally, although inaccurately, as Anglo-Irish.
English as it is spoken in Ireland is the result of the Irish language and the interaction of the English and Scots varieties brought to Ireland during the Plantations of Ireland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The linguistic influence of the Irish language is most evident in Gaeltachtaí, areas where Irish is still spoken, as well as in areas where, before the complete adoption of English, Irish continued to be spoken for longer than in other areas.
The early English settlement of Ireland occurred around the same time as England's settlement of the Caribbean colonies, which partially accounts for phonological similarities shared by West Indian dialects and Hiberno-English.[citation needed] An alternative explanation is the transport of Irish indentured workers and settlers to the Caribbean, especially in the period 1650-1834.
The standard spelling and grammar of Hiberno-English are largely the same as UK English. However, some unique characteristics exist, especially in the spoken language, owing to the influence of the Irish language on the pronunciation of Hiberno-English.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Pronunciation
• 2 Dublin English
• 3 Cork English
• 4 Grammar derived from Irish
• 5 Preservation of older English and Norman French usage
• 6 Turns of phrase
• 7 Lexicon
• 8 Notes
• 9 See also
• 10 External links
[edit] Pronunciation
Hiberno-English retains many phonemic differentiations which have merged in other English accents. Phonetic transcriptions are given using the International Phonetic Alphabet.
• With some local exceptions (most notably Drogheda and some other eastern towns, whose accent is distinctly non-rhotic), 'r' is pronounced wherever it occurs in the word, making Irish English a generally rhotic dialect. R is pronounced as an postalveolar tap/fricative /ɾ/ in much of Kerry, as evidenced in Irish. Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Jacky Healy-Reagh are both good examples of this.
• /t/ is not usually pronounced as a plosive where it does not occur word-initially; instead, it is pronounced as a fricative between [s] and [ʃ].
• The distinction between w /w/ and wh /ʍ/, as in wine vs whine is preserved.
• In some varieties, the dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ become dental stops [t̪ʰ] and [d̪] respectively, making thin and tin, and then and den, near-homophones, where the pair tin and den employs alveolar pronunciation (as in other varieties of English). In other varieties, this occurs only to /θ/ while /ð/ is left unchanged. Some dialects of Irish have a "slender" (palatalized) d as /ðʲ/ and this may transfer over to English pronunciation. In still others, both dental fricatives are present since slender dental stops are lenited to [θʲ] and [ðʲ].
• The distinction between /ɑɹ/ and /oːɹ/ in horse and hoarse is preserved.
• The distinction between [ɛɹ]-[ɪɹ]-[ʌɹ] in herd-bird-curd is made. This feature is in rapid decline.
• /l/ is never velarized as it can be in standard English.
• The vowels in words like boat and cane are monophthongs: [boːt], and [keːn] respectively.
• The /aɪ/ in "night" may be pronounced [ɔɪ] or [əɪ]
• In some varieties, speakers make no distinction between the [ʌ] in putt and the [ʊ] in put, pronouncing both as the latter.
• In some old-fashioned varieties, words spelled with ea and pronounced with [iː] in RP are pronounced with [eː], for example meat, beat.
• In words like room where "oo" usually represents /ʊ/, speakers may use /uː/.
• The /ʌ/ of words such as cut tends to be rounded to [ɔ] in most varieties (cf. Irish phonology).
[edit] Dublin English
Dublin English differs greatly from other Irish dialects. This can be attributed to a greater British influence as well as the metropolitan nature of the city in general.
• In inner-city Dublin accents, post-vocalic /t/ is often elided completely. Note that this is a different phenomenon from the glottal stop in London speech since it often disappears completely.
• Diphthongs are generally preserved in Dublin, expressed as /ʌʊ/ and /ɛɪ/ (although there is certainly variation).
• Some dialects in Dublin retain the "long a" from British Received Pronunciation, hence "can't" /kaːnt/ may differ slightly from "cant" /kant/.
• Intonation is often much flatter than other Irish accents.
[edit] Cork English
Cork English usually differs largely from other accents in Ireland. The Cork accent, particularly in Cork city, is often described as sing-song, as the speaker seems to go from high to low while speaking depending on tone and mood. The Vikings, Elizabethans, and Normans have all left an indelible echo on the habits and common speech of the people of Cork. Cork city accents also differ depending on which side of the River Lee the speaker lives on. Characteristics include:
• Cork people are liable to add the word "like" to the end of sentences for emphasis, as in "I don't know him at all, like".
• Slang and sarcasm can be identified by the high pitched tone used, particularly the "double positive" which unlike its mathematical equivalent indicates a negative, "right, yeah" or "ya will, yeah", clearly indicates "no" and "you won't" respectively.
• Some vowel sounds are often altered. /e/ raises to [ɪ] ("well" becomes "will").
• The pin-pen merger is widespread (as in Kerry).
• The dental fricatives completely merge with the alveolar plosives, resulting in words such as "then", "den" and even "din" becoming homophonous.
[edit] Grammar derived from Irish
The syntax of the Irish language is quite different from that of English. Various aspects of Irish syntax have influenced Hiberno-English, though it should be noted that many of these idiosyncrasies are disappearing in urban areas and among the younger population.
Irish lacks words which directly translate as "yes" or "no", and instead repeats the verb in a question, possibly negated, to answer. People in Ireland have a tendency to repeat the verb, positively or negatively, instead of (or in redundant addition to) using "yes" or "no".
• "Are you coming home soon?" "I am."
• "Is your mobile charged?" "It isn't."
(However, quite a number of people in Ireland, especially younger people, exclusively use the words yes and no, as elsewhere in the English-speaking world.)
It is common for Irish English-speakers in north Leinster and Ulster to use the word "aye" as a weak form of "yes" (somewhat akin to "yeah" or the use of "sure" in American English). (Middle English ai, from Old Norse ei; also aiw- in Indo-European roots.)
• "It's getting late, is it?" "Aye, it is." or " It is, aye."
• "Is that okay with you?" "Aye."
The Irish equivalent of the verb "to be"[1] has two present tenses, one (the present tense proper) for cases which are generally true or are true at the time of speaking and the other (the habitual present) for repeated actions. Thus, 'you are [now, or generally]' is tá tú, but 'you are [repeatedly]' is bíonn tú. Both forms are used with the verbal noun (equivalent to the English present participle) to create compound tenses.
Some Irish speakers of English, especially in rural areas, especially Mayo/Sligo, use the verb "to be" in English similarly to how they would in Irish, using a "does be/do be" (or "bees", although less frequently) construction to indicate this latter continuous present:
• "He does be working every day."
• "They do be talking on their mobiles a lot."
• "They bees doing a lot of work at school." (rare)
• "It's him I do be thinking of."
Irish has no pluperfect tense: instead, "after" is added to the present continuous (a verb ending in "-ing"). The idiom for "I had done X when I did Y" is "I was after doing X when I did Y", modelled on the Irish usage of the compound prepositions i ndiaidh, tar éis, and in éis: bhí mé tar éis/i ndiaidh/in éis X a dhéanamh, nuair a rinne mé Y. This can most commonly be heard used by Dubliners.
• "Why did you hit him?" "He was after showing me cheek."
A similar construction is seen with the 'hot news perfect', used to express extreme excitement at something which has happened recently:
• "Jeez, I'm after hitting him with the car!"
• "Would ya look at yer one — she's after losing five stone in five weeks!"
Less explosively, using what might be termed the 'warm news perfect', the Irish perfect can indicate a recent action of less stellar importance, strongly resembling the German spoken perfect in structure:
• "I have the car fixed." Tá an gluaisteán deisithe agam.
• "I have my breakfast eaten." Tá mo bhricfeasta ite agam.
Mirroring the Irish language and almost every other European language, the plural 'you' is distinguished from the singular, normally by use of the otherwise archaic English word 'ye' [ji]; the word 'yous' (sometimes written as 'youse') also occurs, but primarily only in Dublin and across Ulster:
• "Did ye/youse all go to see it?"
This is because Irish has separate forms for the second person singular (tú) and the second person plural (sibh).
Also, in some areas in Leinster, and also north Connacht and parts of Ulster, the hybrid word 'ye-s', pronounced 'yis', may be used. The pronunciation does differ however, with that of the northwestern being [jiːz] and the Leinster pronunciation being [jɪz].
• "Are yis not finished yet?"
In rural areas, the reflexive version of pronouns is often used for emphasis or to refer indirectly to a particular person, etc., according to context:
• "Was it all of ye or just yourself?"
• "'Tis herself that's coming now." Is í féin atá ag teacht anois.
- where 'herself' might, for example, be the boss or the woman of the house. Use of 'herself' or 'himself' in this way often indicates that the speaker attributes some degree of arrogance or selfishness to the person in question. Note also the indirectness of this construction relative to, for example, 'She's coming now' and the use of "'Tis" rather than the more standard contraction "It's".
It is also common to end sentences with 'no?' or 'yeah?'
• "He's not coming today, no?" Níl sé ag teacht inniu, nach bhfuil?
• "The bank's closed now, yeah?" Tá an banc dúnta anois, an bhfuil?
Though because of the particularly insubstantive yes and no in Irish, (the nach bhfuil? and an bhfuil? being the interrogative positive and negative of the verb 'to be') the above may also find expression as
• "He's not coming today, sure he isn't?" Níl sé ag teacht inniú, nach bhfuil?
• "The bank's closed now, isn't it?" Tá an banc dúnta anois, nach bhfuil?
This isn't limited only to the verb 'to be': it's also used with 'to have' when used as an auxiliary; and, with other verbs, the verb 'to do' is used. This is most commonly used for intensification.
• This is strong stuff, so it is.
• We won the game, so we did.
• She's a right lash, so she is.
There are some language forms that stem from the fact that there is no verb 'to have' in Irish. Instead, possession is indicated in Irish by using the preposition 'at,' (in Irish, ag.). To be more precise, Irish uses a prepositional pronoun that combines ag "at" and me "me" to create agam. In English, the verb "to have" is used, along with a "with me" or "on me" that derives from Tá ....agam. This gives rise to the frequent
• The book, I have it with me.
• Do you have the book? I have it with me.
• Have you change for the bus on you?
• I have my phone on me, if you want to use it.
Somebody who can speak a language 'has' a language, in which Hiberno-English has borrowed the grammatical form used in Irish.
• She doesn't have Irish. Níl Gaeilge aici. literally 'There is no Irish at her'.
When describing something, rural Hiberno-English speakers may use the term 'in it' where 'there' would usually be used. This is due to the Irish word ann (pronounced "oun") fulfilling both meanings.
• Is it yourself that's in it? An tú féin atá ann?
Another idiom is this thing or that thing described as 'this man here' or 'that man there', which also features in Newfoundland English in Canada.
• This man here. An fear seo. (cf. the related anseo = here)
• That man there. An fear sin. (cf. the related ansin = there)
The reported clause is also often preserved in its direct form, for example 'John asked me to buy a loaf of bread' becomes 'John asked me would I buy a loaf of bread'.
Irish English also always uses the "light l" sound, and the naming of the letter 'h' as 'haitch' is standard. A is often pronounce "Ah" and Z as "Ezed".
Bring and take: Irish use of these words differs from that of English, because it follows the Gaelic grammar for beir and tóg. English usage is determined by direction; Irish usage is determined by person. So, in English, one takes "from here to there", and brings it "to here from there". But, in Irish, a person takes only when accepting a transfer of possession of the object from someone else — and a person brings at all other times, irrespective of direction (to or from). Thus someone might say "Don't forget to bring your umbrella with you when you go" or, to a child, "Hold my hand: I don't want someone to take you."
In naming Irish counties, the word "county" precedes the name of specific county (as in "County Antrim", "County Cork" etc.) rather than follow it as in the names of counties in England and in other English-speaking lands.
[edit] Preservation of older English and Norman French usage
In old-fashioned usage, "it is" can be freely abbreviated "'tis", even as a standalone sentence. This also allows the double contraction "'tisn't", for "it is not".
The word "ye", "yis" or "yous", otherwise archaic, is still used in place of "you" for the second-person plural. "Ye'r" "Yisser" or "Yousser" are the possessive forms, e.g. "What's ye'r weather like over in France this time o' the year?"
The verb "mitch" is common in Ireland, indicating being truant from school. This word appears in Shakespeare, but is seldom heard these days in British English, although pockets of usage persist in some areas (notably South Wales, Devon, and Cornwall).
Another usage familiar from Shakespeare is the inclusion of the second person pronoun after the imperative form of a verb, as in "Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed" (Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene IV). This is still common in Ulster: "Get youse your homework done or you're no goin' out!" In Munster, you will still hear children being told "Up to bed, let ye" [lɛˈtʃi]
In some parts of Ireland, in particular the eastern seaboard, when someone is telling tall tales he is said to be "blowing" or "bilowen" out of him/her, which is likely to be a preservation of the Middle English "bilowen" or "bi-lyen", as seen in Piers Plowman (by William Langland): "2.22 - And bilowen hire to lordes þat lawes han to kepe."
"Gassin", "gorsoon", "gossoon" or "gossoor" is a common descriptor in rural areas for a child, and derives from the word "garçon" (meaning "boy") as used by 12th century Norman settlers (via "gársúin" in Irish).
A sliced loaf of bread is still called in many parts of the country "sliced pan" deriving from the French word for bread "pain" while in the Beara Peninsula, a long shirt is called by older folk a "shemmy shirt" from the French "chemise".
'Pismires', meaning 'ants', is still used in parts of Cavan and Leitrim, see also in Shakespeare and deriving ultimately from the French 'pismire'.
For influence from Scotland see Ulster Scots.
[edit] Turns of phrase
Amn't is used as an abbreviation of "am not", by analogy with "isn't" and "aren't". This can be used as a tag question ("I'm making a mistake, amn't I?"), or as an alternative to "I'm not" ("I amn't joking"), and the double negative is also used ("I'm not late, amn't I not?"). This construction occurs identically in Scots English
Arra is used also. Arra tends to be used after something bad has happened, when someone is looking on the bright side ("Arra, we'll go next week", "Arra, 'tis not the end of the world"). Arra comes from the Irish word "dhera" (pronounced "yerra"). As a result, the words yerra and erra are also used in different parts of the country.
Come here to me now or Come here and I'll tell ya something is used to mean "Listen to this" or "I have something to tell you" and can be used as "Come here and tell me". The phrase "Tell me this", short for "Tell me this and tell me no more", is also common. These phrases tend to imply a secretiveness or revelatory importance to the upcoming bit of information.
Various insults have been transferred directly from Irish and have a very mild meaning in English: e.g. Lúdramán, Amadán, pleidhce, rogue, eejit (idiot), all (loosely) meaning "fool" or "messer" (messer is also a Hiberno-Irish turn of phrase). "Langer" is a variant used especially in Cork but has begun to spread through the rest of the country.
Also more prevalent in Cork is a profligation of colourful emphasis-words; in general any turn of phrase associated with a superlative action is used to mean very, and are often calculated to express these in a negative light and therefore often unpleasant by implication - "he's a howling/ thundering/ rampaging/ galloping/ screeching langer, so he is." The practice is widespread in the rest of Hiberno-English but such a feature of Corkonian speech that it is now commonly lampooned when imitating the accent.
Reduplication is an alleged trait of Hiberno-English strongly associated with stage-Irish and Hollywood films (to be sure, to be sure). It is sometimes used in reality, especially in rendering Irish phrases into English:
• ar bith corresponds to English at all, so the stronger ar chor ar bith gives rise to the form at all at all
o I've no money at all at all.
• ar eagla go... (lit. on fear that) means in case .... The variant ar eagla na heagla, (lit on fear of fear) implies the circumstances are more unlikely. The corresponding Hiberno-English phrases are to be sure and to be sure to be sure. In this context, these are not, as might be thought, disjuncts meaning 'certainly'; they could better be translated in case and just in case. Nowadays normally spoken with conscious levity.
o I brought some cash in case I saw a bargain, and my credit card 'to be sure to be sure'.
So is often used for emphasis ("I can speak Irish, so I can"), or it may be tacked on to the end of a sentence to indicate agreement, where "then" would often be used in standard English ("Bye so", "Let's go so", "That's fine so", "We'll do that so"). The word is also used to contradict a negative statement ("You're not pushing hard enough" - "I am so!"). The practice of indicating emphasis with so and including reduplicating the sentence's subject pronoun and auxiliary verb (is, are, have, has, can, &c.) such as in the initial example, is particularly prevalent in more northern dialects such as those of Sligo, Mayo, Cavan, Monaghan and other neighbouring counties.
Sure is often used as a tag word, emphasising the obviousness of the statement. Can be used as "to be sure", the famous Irish stereotype phrase. (But note that the other stereotype of "Sure and ..." is not actually used in Ireland.) Or "Sure, I can just go on Wednesday", "I will not, to be sure." "Sure Jeez" is often used as a very mild expletive to express dismay. The word is also used at the end of sentences (primarily in Munster), for instance "I was only here five minutes ago, sure!" and can express emphasis or indignation.
Will is often used where standard English would use "shall" ("Will I make us a cup of tea?"). The standard-English distinction between "shall" (for first-person simple future, and second- and third-person emphatic future) and "will" (second- and third-person simple future, first-person emphatic future) does not exist in Hiberno-English, with "will" generally used in all cases.
Casual conversation in many parts of Ireland includes a variety of colourful turns of phrase. Some examples:
• Yer man (your man) and Yer wan/one (your one) are used in referring to an individual other than the speaker and the person spoken too. They may be used because the speaker doesn't know the name of the person referred to, and either can be used when the sex of the person referred to is not known. "I'll give yer one in the Health Board a call" can be used even if the speaker does not know whether the person who will answer the phone will be a man or a woman. The phrases are an unusual sort of half-translation of a parallel Irish-language phrase, "mo dhuine" (literally 'my person') and this form exists in Kerry, for example "I was just talking with my man-o here." Similarly, in Waterford city 'me man' is often used, for example "I was just talking to me man". The nearest equivalents in colloquial English usage would be "whatsisname" and "whatsername". Note also "wan" (particularly common in Munster) for a female person may be a direct usage of the Irish 'bean' (woman). In Newfoundland the same form exists as 'buddy,' who is a generic nameless person. They use the word not always in the sense of 'my friend' but more in the sense of 'what's his name'. 'I went inside to ask for directions and buddy said to go left at the lights'. The expression is used in this old song, partly just to make a rhyme:
And yer man / Mick McCann / From the banks of the Bann / Was the skipper of the Irish Rover.
• a soft day: referring to a rainy day with that particular soft drizzle, and an overcast sky, but yet relatively bright. This is a translation of the Irish "lá bog".
• Fecking is a mild abusive equivalent in force to "bleeding" or "darned". It is not a parallel of the English word "fucking", despite their similarity, and is generally less offensive. "Feck" is the corresponding expletive. The noun "fecker" is slightly stronger but not vulgar. These terms were lately introduced to Britain by Father Ted. (Mrs. Doyle refers to "feck" as "the f-word" and "fuck" as "the bad f-word" in one episode.) In old Dubliner slang, "to feck' is also slang for "to steal", as in the phrase, "We went to the orchard and fecked some apples." It can also mean "to throw", especially if something is being thrown where it shouldn't, as in "We fecked his schoolbag into the river." However, fuck is also used in this context and the two should not be confused. "To Feck Off" is used as a substitute for the verb "to go", either implying "go quickly" - "We fecked off home before it got any worse" - or to go away after a disappointment - "we fecked off to the pub after losing the match".
• Yoke is typically used in place of the word "thing", for instance, "gimme that yoke there." It's more commonly used with tools or other objects needed to accomplish some sort of manual task; a book or an apple, for example, are not very likely to be referred to as a "yoke." Like "thing," it's more frequently used to refer to objects for which the actual name is cumbersome to say or more difficult to call to mind. It's also used as an insult: "you're some yoke" and the longer forms "yokiebob" and "yokiemibob" still survives. "Yoke" is also a slang term for an ecstasy tablet. Yoke can also be used when referring to an unattractive or annoying woman.
• Now is often used at the end of sentences or phrases as a semantically empty word, completing an utterance without contributing any apparent meaning. Examples include "Bye now" (= "goodbye"), "There you go now" (= when giving someone something), "Ah now!" (= expressing dismay), "Hold on now" (= "wait a minute"), "Now then" as a mild attention-getter, etc. This usage is universal among English dialects, but occurs more frequently in Hiberno-English.
• To is often omitted from sentences where it would exist in British English. For example, "I am not allowed go out tonight", instead of "I am not allowed to go out tonight".
• The devil is used in Irish as an expletive, eg. Cén áit sa diabhal a bhfuil sé? "Where the devil is he?" (the Irish version is literally "What place in the devil is he?"). This has been translated into Irish as a mild expletive, used in the song "Whiskey in the Jar" in the line "But the devil take the women, for they never can be easy". Diabhal is also used for negation in Irish, and this usage might be carried over to Hiberno-English: diabhal fear "devil a man", for "not a soul". Substitute "nary" for "divil" in this line from the song Harrigan:
Proud of all the Irish blood that's in me / Divil a man can say a word again' me.
There are many terms for having consumed a drop too much drink, many are used elsewhere, but the Irish tendency is to attempt to find the most descriptive adjective yet on each occasion. Some examples: "loaded", "blocked", "twisted", "full" (common in Ulster), "spannered", "scuttered", "stocious/stotious", "baloobas" (common in Cavan), "locked", "langered", "mouldy" (pron. mowldy as in "fowl"), "polluted", "flootered", "plastered", "bolloxed", "well out of it", "wankered", "fucked", "fuckered", "ossified", "binned", "rat-arsed" , "plastered", "gee-eyed", "demented" "flahed drunk" "langers altogether" "in shit drunk" (common in Cork), "buckled", "steaming"( common in Donegal), "messy", "sloppy", "cabbaged" , "wasted", "paralytic/palatic", "full as a boot", "full up", "full as the bingo bus" (common in Louth), "legless", "hammered" , "blootered", "squooshed", "banjoed", "bingoed", "mangled", "ruined", "half-tore", "oiled", "jarred" (not too drunk, "I'm not drunk, I'm just a bit jarred!"), "in the horrors"(common in Waterford), "stoned" (Dundalk only), "I'm off my tits", "pissed", "sozzled", "blottoed", "diageod" (in refference to the drinks company), "trolleyed", "sloshed", "rote", "rote off" "pissed", "steamed" (common in Mayo) (Phrases in italics are more "colourful")
Some turns of phrase are more localised and their meaning may not be widespread throughout the country, while others are more transient and fall out of use after a number of years.
[edit] Lexicon
Hiberno-English vocabulary is largely the same as British English, though there are variances, especially with reference to certain goods, services and institutions. Examples that would come into everyday conversation include:
• Amadán - fool (derived from Irish)
• Ax - ask (also in USA).
• Bag - suitcase.
• To banjax something is to break it, ruin it, or render it incapable of use. As in "My mobile's been banjaxed since I dropped it in the toilet."
• Beor - A woman. See feen. Alternate spellings: bjeor, beour, byoor, byore. Etymology: b'ōr'[1] (Shelta); and from Anglo-Saxon. Most common in parts of the West and South of Ireland.
• Bold describes someone (usually a child) who is impudent, naughty or badly behaved. The British English meaning, "brave", is rendered 'bauld' or bould, as in 'the bould Thady Quill'.
• Brutal or 'Brute'. Something awful: 'It's only Brutal'. Glottal T in Dublin: "Oh my Jaze da bru'" - comment on an unexpected problem.
• Burst as in 'I'll bleedin' burst yeh', a threat.
• Cat - bad, terrible. Common in Ulster. Sometimes "catmalogeon". Found particularly in Sligo and Waterford, but sometimes used elsewhere (thought to derive from "catastrophic").
• Chiseler - Dublin dialect for a child.
• College, more like American English than British English, would usually be referring to any sort of third-level education, be it college, university or Institute of Technology. This is because the Leaving Certificate Examinations (the rough equivalent of A-levels or NVQs in the United Kingdom) are taken in secondary school in the Republic of Ireland, so there is no intermediary college like sixth-form colleges in the UK (The probable origin of this usage that until 1989 higher level education was provided via individual colleges and not explicitly from a university.) Some Irish Secondary Schools are also called Colleges.
• Coolaboola (also coolyaboolya) is an Irish word which is getting a slight revival amongst younger people in Ireland. It's general usage is as an affirmation similar to O.K.
• Couple often means "a few", somewhere between two and (?) four or five - whereas in British and American English it is more likely to mean precisely two. Adopted into the Irish language as cúpla, which also means 'a few'.
• Craic is fun, a good time, good company, good atmosphere and conversation. If you are enjoying yourself, it is good craic.[2] [3] The word may also be used to refer to events, news, or gossip, as in the phrases what's the craic?, how's the craic? and any craic. A suggested connection to the Irish craiceann, skin, does not seem to be supported by any evidence. The word is a Scots word as illustrated by the Dictionar O Th Scots Leid which has migrated from Scotland to Ireland through Ulster Scots or 'Ullans'. Craic is the gaelicised version of the word, but the meaning is the same.
• Cub - means a young child
• Culchie - means from the countryside (derogatory). In Dublin it refers to people from any part of the country (urban or rural) other than Dublin (the phrase is used to a lesser extent in Belfast and Cork). In Dublin the rest of the country is often referred to as 'The Bog'.
• Cupán (tae) - a cup (of tea) (derived from Irish).
• Cute can mean shrewd or clever, particularly in the business sense, as in "cute hoor".
• D4 refers to the Southside middle classes of Dublin - referring to an (mainly) affluent postal code - used derogatively.
• Da Dublin and Ulster slang for father, as in "Me da doesn't do too well at the horses!"
• Deadly Of the highest quality, as in "My new car has everything. It's deadly." (Bleedin deadly for extra emphasis) This phrase must go back many years as it is the root of the New York Irish gang name "The Dead Rabbits" from the film and historically accurate original 1920s book Gangs of New York
• Delph meaning Dishware, occasionally meaning artificial teeth. From the name of the original source of supply, Delft in the Netherlands. See Delftware.
• Desperate - often taken to mean unsavoury or (mildly), terrible - e.g. "It's a desperate rainy day", or as an intensifier of "very", as with Fierce.
• Dingen means 'very good', e.g. the film (fillum) was dingen. From the Gaelic 'daingean' meaning solid, secure etc.
• Dinner can often still mean the meal eaten in the middle of the day, especially in rural Ireland.
• Doss, meaning bed, or to be lazy or avoiding work, can be extended to dosser, meaning someone who avoids work.
• Dozy, Dublin adjective applied to anything annoying - e.g. "Dozy git!".
• D'oul Collective / affectionate term, literally "the old", as in "d'oul silage", "d'oul motor" (pronounced as "th'oul" in some areas).
• Drout(h) - meaning drought/thirst for alcohol. 'There's an awful/fierce droot on me.' This is similar and probably related to Scots "Drouthy".
• Jouk Used instead of 'go', for instance to 'jouk' down the road'. Common in Ulster and North Louth.
• ESB (Electricity Supply Board), being the only national electricity supplier in the Republic of Ireland, is regularly used in reference to this type of service. Whereas in other countries one would use the term "mains supply" or "power supply" when referring to the electricity supply that comes to their house/business, in Ireland a lot of people would say "ESB supply".
• Evening starts rather earlier in the day in Ireland than it does in British English. Any time after midday is likely to be described as the "evening", whereas in Britain the evening does not start until about 1700 hrs.
• Feck is a slang term that can mean "throw", "steal" or "go away" ("Feck off!"). Made famous overseas by Father Jack Hackett in Father Ted. FCUK took legal action against the producers of a 'FCEK' t-shirt in 2004 [4].
• Feen - A man. Its meaning is somewhat akin of the American Dude and the London Geezer. Etymology: fīn[5] (Shelta) Usage common in Cork.
• Fierce, used as a stronger intensifier than 'very'; e.g., "This is fierce bad weather we're having", it can also be used as the only description, "The weather's fierce at the moment" which could mean very good or very bad and is up for interpretation.
• Flag can mean the conventional Flag; it can also be a Flagstone.
• Footpath is used in Ireland where "pavement" is in British English and "sidewalk" in American English.
• Gammy - bad, broken, crooked, unstable, improbably lucky. Etymology: Shelta g'ami[6] "bad, sick, crooked"; possibly ultimately from the Irish cam "crooked".
• Gansey, from the Irish geansaí, (English dialect for Guernsey jersey) refers to a jersey or jumper (sweater in American English). This term is also used, although rarely, in parts of Northern England.
• Gas - adjective meaning 'hilarious'. For example, "He's a gas man, isn't he?"
• Grand is frequently used as a response to refer to a person or thing as being alright, for instance, "I'm grand" or "That's grand", and is often used to express the quantity of a thousand, as in British English "two grand". It's also used as a response that means "no thank you" when offered another drink for example: "No, I'm grand, thanks".
• Gobshite refers to a fool, someone who talks nonsense, or sometimes someone who is gullible.
• Go with Used in the parts of West means to French kiss a person. Past tense is "Went with -In Dublin a "Goer" refers to an attractive sexually active woman but is not (usually) intended to be derogatory.
• Go 'way as in 'go way out of that'. Can mean, in context, a) 'you're saying something new' or b) 'you're talking rubbish'. Often misunderstood by Americans as dismissive 'go away (from me)'.
• Gombeen originally referred to a usurer (from the Irish gaimbín, diminutive of "lump"), but now refers to any underhand or corrupt activity.
• Guards refers to the Garda Síochana, the Republic's police force, the equivalent in Irish Gardaí being used more formally, usually in the media. The singular Garda is widely used, the female equivalent, Bangharda less so. The word "police" generally refers to police in other countries (although "Gardaí" and "Police" are used interchangeably in Dublin), while the American "cops" is rarely used by older people. "Shades" is used mainly by the travelling community.
• Gurrier means a young boy up to no good, usually used by the working classes from the Dublin area (see Skanger). Derived from gur cake, a cheap rebaked cake eaten by the poor in Dublin. Someone on the run from the law was said to be 'out on gur', living off gur cake.
• Handy has more meanings in Hiberno-Irish than just "useful": it usually also means "great", "terrific". It is also used to describe a person's skill at a particular task; "Paul is pretty handy with a golf club" meaning "Paul is a good golfer". "taking it handy" can mean "taking it easy", being careful or (when driving) not speeding
• Head-the-ball Dublin. A nutcase. From 'Hae'ball king of the beggars', a famous character in Dublin c.1760.
• Hiace (as in Toyota Hiace) is used by many to refer to any light commercial van, much like "Transit" or "Transit van" (as in Ford Transit) in the UK. For a period in the 1980s it was common in some areas to refer to Hiace vans as "Knacker Wagons" because of their popularity with the travelling community. (See Knacker.)
• Hoor - meaning whore. 'She's an awful wee hoor so she is!' Also means "rogue" or "scoundrel" (as in "cute hoor") - often affectionately rather than pejoratively. Possibly from hougher, a hamstringer.[citation needed]
• Howsa Goin Used as a greeting in the West of Ireland. "What's the Story" (often shortened to "Story Bud ?") Is the Dublin equivalent while in Northern Ireland its "What about you" "'bout ya" or "How about ya"
• Jackeen - A derogatory countryman's name for a Dubliner. From the small British union flags ('union jacks') waved by thousands for royal visits up to 1910 ("Dub" is a less offensive variant).
• Jacks : toilet, usually in a pub or similar. As in "mind my handbag while I go to the jacks". From 16th century English "Jakes". (mind means "look after") the words Bog and Loo are also used.
• Janey Mac! is an exclamation of amazement or frustration in Dublin. It comes from an old children's rhyme: "Janey Mac, me shirt is black, what'll I do for Sunday?/Go to bed, cover your head and don't get up til Monday!"
• Jaykers - A euphemism for Jeez; used as expression of amazement.
• Jeep, much like "Hiace", is used by many to refer to any sort of off road vehicle, be it a small 4x4 like a Suzuki Jimny or large SUV like a long wheelbase Mitsubishi Pajero. This comes from US military usage of the term, while, oddly enough, actual Chrysler Jeeps were never officially sold in Ireland until the 1990s, and the word was just as common before then.
• Johnny - a condom.
• Jockey's bollocks, the. Fantasic, on top, as in it's the JB. Similar to British-English 'the bee's knees'.
• Kittle the English word kettle is often pronounced more like the Irish citeal.
• Knacker, a horse handler, is has become a derogatory term used to refer to members of the Traveller community, who have a proud equine heritage. It comes from the common practice of gathering and buying detrius to either sell on as scrap or recycle into new devices. It is also used to refer to Skangers who are particularly anti-social, mainly in cities such as Dublin and Waterford. Outside these areas, men who remove animal carcasses to feed foxhounds are still called knackers, with no derogatory sense.
• Knacker snowball - a snowball with a stone inside.
• Knacker drinking (or Bushing) Outdoor drinking by those too young to legally purchase alcohol.
• Knacker shower/knacker wash - Liberal application of a spray deodorant (typically Lynx) in place of bathing to hide body odour.
• Lack Waterford slang for girlfriend, similar to the use of "Mot" in Dublin.
• Loco Increasingly common word for crazy, derived from Spanish word for same.
• Loodar/Ludar - a fool; comes from an abbreviation and anglicisation of the Gaelic Lúdramán.
• Lug - An Ear. This expression is also found in the North of England and is probably of Norse origin.
• Ma - Ulster and Dublin term for Mother, short for Mam in Dublin.
• May Fayner - Meaning a Selfish Person, From the Irish Mé Fein meaning 'Me Myself'.
• Meet - Meaning to kiss a person (often a French kiss). Used mainly by young people - 'Will you meet my friend?' Other variations include 'to score' someone and 'to shift' someone.
• Messages means groceries or errands. She's gone to the shop to get the messages. I had a few messages to do in town.
• Mind - Meaning to, "to look after"
• Minerals means soft drinks.
• Mouth like a Malahide cod - Dublin slang for someone who talks a lot.
• Mot: In Dublin, 'my girlfriend' would be 'me mot'. As the 't' is pronounced as a glottal stop, this sounds as if it might be related to the Irish maith for 'good' (maybe via cailín maith, 'good girl') but is actually a preservation of an English word (mainly for 'harlot') with possible French, Dutch, and Romany origins. The English Gypsy word for 'woman' is 'mort'.
• Mulla see Culchie.
• Musha meaning "indeed", "well", "sure" with a somewhat resigned sentiment. Either from the Irish "mhuise" meaning "indeed" or "más ea" meaning "if it is so". Joyce used it in "Dubliners" and "Finegans Wake" - Musha, God be with them times, from the former.
• Nohjis - Twisted version of odious. Often used with the word 'fierce. 'The craic last night was nohjis fierce'. Common in Cavan.
• Oul' fella/man and oul' wan/lass(y) are used to describe one's father or mother respectively.
• Oxter means Armpit He had a book under his oxter. (sounds similar to the Dutch Oksel (oxel))
• Pack is often used to refer to quite small packets, as in a "pack of crisps".
• Plain as in a 'pint of plain', a standard pint of stout beer.
• Press is almost invariably used instead of Cupboard. The hot press is the airing cupboard.
• Ratchet is a Cork and Kerry equivalent of "yoke".
• Ride means sex "did you ride her?"(did you have sex with her)the past tense is rode as in "I rode him last night"(i had sex with him last night)
• Rip is a term, usually applied to younger females, generally used as a far milder form of 'bitch'. "She's after getting muck all over my new carpet, the little rip!"
• Rubber means an eraser (not a condom!) (Note to American readers: this is standard British English too)
• Runners or tackies, or in the north gutties, refers to "trainers" (British English) or "sneakers" (American English).
• Scallion is almost always used instead of Spring Onion (British English) or Green Onion (American English). However, since the proliferation of British supermarkets such as Tesco Ireland, some people have also started to use the term Spring Onion.
• Scoop is used to describe an alcoholic beverage i.e. "Going for a few scoops". It is rarely, if ever, used in the singular (for example "I left my scoop on the table" is not a phrase that would ever be used). Also used is the word Jars (giving rise to the expression to be intoxicated jarred). Both terms usually describe pints.
• Sham - a young man or boy. This word has come to be used as an exlamation by the Irish skanger community, for example "Aw Sham!" or "That is some sham!". Also used in some parts of Northern Ireland to mean a friend. Etymology apparently from Shelta šam.[7]
• Skanger is an Irish chav. Most commonly used in and around Dublin. The word scumbag is commonly used elsewhere.
• Keeping sketch describes keeping a lookout for teachers, gardaí, parents etc. "Sketch!" is shouted if someone is coming. The term may derive from the Irish sceith meaning "to inform on".
• To slag (someone) off means to have craic at their expense, i.e. make them the butt of jokes. A slagging match is when people exchange (sometimes more derogatory) banter. Unrelated to the more common English language usage of slag as a synonym of "slut".
• Sláinte is an Irish word meaning "health". It is an abbreviation of the term sláinte mhaith which means "good health". Either version is used as a toast, similar to "cheers", when drinking.
• Smashing means "great" or "brilliant". It is often claimed that this comes from the Irish phrase "Is maith é sin" (that's great), but this is probably a folk etymology.
• Sound describes a person who is kind, thoughtful, and generally a good friend to have. also an exclamation, equivalent to 'excellent!' "Dead sound".
• Star is often used to describe someone who has helped you out, done you a favour, or is generally wonderful. "Did you clean my room for me? Ah, you're a star!" It is also not uncommon to hear 'Star Bar' being used, in reference to the Cadbury's brand chocolate bar.
• Sweet cake often used among older, but not very common among younger generations, a literal translation from Irish of cáca milis meaning "cake" or "pastry".
• Tayto (an Irish brand of potato crisps — US "chips") has become synonymous with any sort of crisps, regardless of brand. Although the term itself is singular - Tayto - the word is pluralised in use (as in "Go to the shop and get me a bag of Taytos.") In Dublin, especially in working class areas, the alternative crips is commonly used (as in "Get us a packet o' crips will ye?" — or even "a package o' crips")
• Tearin' away is usually used to respond positively to an informal greeting. Usually it is preceded with an ah'
• Tear off To leave in an abrupt fashion: "he tore off"
• Tilly often used among older, but not very common among younger generations, a small amount or remnant of liquid (as in "There's only a tilly of milk left in the bottle" or "Will I put a little tilly of milk in your coffee"). See also Tint
• Tin means "can", especially for processed foods. Give us a tin of beans. "Can" is usually reserved for soft drinks or beer/cider, but a "tin of lemonade" is frequently used. However, in Northern Ireland "tin" is used to refer to a "can" of beer or cider.
• Tint often used among older, but not very common among younger generations, a small amount or remnant of liquid. See also Tilly
• Tinker is a now derogatory term referring to the Travelling community, although it is not as offensive as "knacker". As with "knacker", it comes from a trade the travelling community once practised, namely tin smithing.
• Tool To mean a stupid person as in " you tool"
• Topper, pointer, parer, paro are often used to refer to a "pencil sharpener".
• Unreal Used when something is in the extreme, eg "It was unreal bad", "That was an unreal curry chip".
• Wan - an individual, particularly a female individual. This is a corruption of the word one under influence of the Gaelic word bean, meaning woman.
• Wean an abbreviated form of the Scots wee ane, is used to refer to a child, but almost exclusively in Ulster and north Leinster.
• Wee - small, as in Scottish English. Most common in Connacht and Ulster.
• Well Used as a welcome in the South East and Louth, mainly in Waterford and Dundalk, and also in Ulster as a welcome instead of hello. Used sporadically in Mayo. Welcoming a male is usually done "Wellboy" and a female is "Wellgirl"
• Whisht - Meaning 'be quiet'. 'Hauld (Hold) your whisht' is a common phrase in rural Cavan, and is slowly going out of use in the rest of Ulster. It comes from the Irish word "Éist" (listen), which when said repeatedly becomes "Whisht". It could of course simply be of English or Scots origin.[8][9].
• Yoke - an unnamed thing, a whatchamacallit. Used commonly. (In parts of Ireland users of recreational drugs often refer to Ecstasy tablets as "yokes".) "Yokabus" is another version, usually referring to a mechanical or electrical contraption.
Highland English
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Highland English is the variety of Scottish English spoken by many in the Scottish Highlands, more heavily influenced by Gaelic than most other Scottish English dialects. Island English is the variety spoken as a second language by native Gaelic speakers in the Outer Hebrides. The varieties of English spoken in the Highlands can be divided into five categories:
1. Older native speakers of Gaelic, who have acquired local varieties of English as a second language.
2. Native Gaelic speakers who have spent extended periods outside the Highlands and acquired some other variety of English.
3. Speakers whose first language is English rather than Gaelic, and who have acquired a more-or-less distinctive variety of Highland English from their parents or peers.
4. Speakers of Lowland Scots or Scottish English.
5. Speakers of English English or non-Scottish varieties.
Highland English excludes the last two categories. Not surprisingly there are substantial differences between the dialect of speakers in the first three categories.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
• 2 Grammar
• 3 Relationship to other languages
• 4 Vocabulary
• 5 References
[edit] Phonology
The more distinctive varieties of Highland English shows the influence of Gaelic most clearly in pronunciation, but also in grammar. For example, voiceless stops /p/ /t/ /k/ are realised with pre-aspiration, that is as [hp], [ht] and [hk] or [xk], whereas voiced consonants tend to be de-voiced. Examples; that "whatever" becomes pronounced as "hwateffer" and the English "j" as in "just" sound is often turned into a "tch" sound e.g. "chust". English /z/ may be realised as [s], giving "chisas" ("Jesus"). Some speakers insert a "sh" sound in English "rst" clusters, so that Eng. "first" gives "firsht". Lack of tolerance of English [w] may mean its realisation as [u], as in [suansi] ("Swansea"). Similarly, the svarabhakti ("helping vowel") that is used in some consonant combinations in Gaelic is used, so that "film" is pronounced "fillum".
Many older speakers employ a very distinctive affirmative or backchannel item taken from Gaelic which involves an ingress of breath with clearly audible friction and whose function to indicate agreement with what a speaker has just said or is saying or to indicate continuing agreement or comprehension. This phenomenon has been termed by some "the Gaelic Gasp". (This linguistic feature is also found in the Norwegian and Swedish languages, where it too indicates affirmation.)
[edit] Grammar
The grammatical influence of Gaelic syntax is most apparent with verbal constructions, as Scottish Gaelic uses the verb to be with the active participle of the verb to indicate a continuous action as in English, but also uses this construction for iterative meanings; therefore "I go to Stornoway on Mondays" becomes "I am going to Stornoway on Mondays". Occasionally older speakers use -ing constructions where Standard English would use a simple verb form, example "I'm seeing you!" [older native Gaelic speaker speaking to baby] meaning "I can see you!". The past tense in Highland English may use the verb to be followed by "after" followed by the participle: "I am after buying a newspaper" to mean "I have [just] bought a newspaper", although this construction is more common in Irish English. Some speakers use the simple past in situations where standard English would require "have" plus verb constructions, for example "France? I was never there" rather than "I have never been there".
The diminutive -ag is sometimes added to words and names, and is a direct lift from Gaelic, e.g. Johnag, Jeanag. It is still used in Caithness as well. A great variety of distinctive female names are formed using the amazingly productive -ina suffix appended to male names, examples: Murdina ( < Murdo), Dolina, Calumina, Angusina, and Neilina.
[edit] Relationship to other languages
Areas in the east of the Highlands often have substantial influence from Lowland Scots.
Discourse markers taken directly from Gaelic are used habitually by some speakers in English, such as ending a narrative with "S(h)in a(g)ad-s' e" (trans. "there you have it" = Std Eng. "So there you are/so that's it", or ending a conversation with "Right, ma-thà" or "OK ma-thà" /ma ha:/ meaning "Right then."
Speakers of Highland English, particularly those from areas which remain strongly Gaelic or have a more recent Gaelic speaking history, are often mistaken as being Irish by non-Highland Britons; presumably as a result of the shared Gaelic influence upon the English of both areas.
[edit] Vocabulary
A list of words that appear in Highland English, although these are sometimes shared with Scottish English in general, as well as Lowland Scots, and to other areas where Highlanders have emigrated in large numbers.
• Bodach - A Gaelic word for an old man.
• Bothan - a hut, often an illegal drinking den.
• Bothy - A mountain refuge.
• Cailleach - A Gaelic word for an old woman.
• Clearances or more commonly The Clearances, referring to the Highland Clearances
• Ceilidh - A 'Social gathering' or, more recently, a formal evening of traditional Scottish Social Dancing.
• Deoch-an-dorus (various spellings), meaning a "drink at the door". Translated as "one for the road", i.e. "one more drink before you leave".
• Fear an taighe an MC (master of ceremonies), Gaelic lit. "the man of the house"
• Firth - an estuary
• Gaidhealtachd - A Gaelic term for the Highlands
• Inversneckie, a nickname for Inverness.
• Kyle or Kyles - Straits from Gaelic Caol & Caolais. 'Kyle' is also a nickname for Kyle of Lochalsh.
• Loch - A Gaelic word meaning a lake or a fjord.
• Machair - A Gaelic word referring to a usually sandy coastal plain, usually in the Outer Hebrides ('Links' in Lowland Scotland).
• Mull - a headland.
• Strath - A river valley, from Gaelic srath.
• Tack & Tacksman (historical) - [1]
• Teuchter - a derogatory term applied mainly to Northern Scots and Highlanders, but also to rural Scots in general. It is sometimes used ironically by the "teuchters" themselves.
• The Wee Frees - A nickname used, generally by outsiders and with some resulting confusion, for more than one Scottish and predominantly Highland church denomination. It has been used for the continuing post-1900 Free Church of Scotland after the union of the majority with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland, and for the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland as opposed to the Free Kirk (Free Church of Scotland). Some view its origin as being even older, referring to the "free kirk/wee kirk/auld kirk/cauld kirk" rhyme about the churches after the Disruption of 1843. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland is sometimes colloquially known as the Wee Wee Frees.
• The Wee Paper - A nickname for the West Highland Free Press published in Skye.
• Westie - West Highland Terrier.
• White Settlers - a derogatory term for migrants to the Highlands and Islands from Lowland Scotland or England.
Manx English
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Manx English, or Anglo-Manx, is the dialect of English which was formerly spoken by the people of the Isle of Man. It has many borrowings from the original Manx language, a Goidelic language, and it differs widely from any other English, including other Celtic-derived dialects such as Welsh English and Hiberno-English.
Early strata of Anglo-Manx contain much of Gaelic and Norse origin, but more recent Anglo-Manx displays heavy influence from Liverpool and Lancashire in North West England. A.W. Moore noted that the dialect varied to some slight extent from parish to parish and from individual to individual, but in the main the same turns of phrase and the same foundational stock of words pervaded the whole Island.
The best known recorder of the Anglo-Manx dialect was the poet, T.E. Brown.
In recent years, the Anglo-Manx dialect has almost disappeared in the face of increasing immigration and cultural influence from the United Kingdom. A few words remain in general use, but apart from the Manx accent, little remains of this dialect and it is seldom heard on the island in its original form today.
Sources such as A.W. Moore's A Vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx Dialect (Oxford University Press, 1924) and W.W. Gill's Manx Dialect Words and Phrases (J.W. Arrowsmith, 1934) document the dialect in the last stages before its decline from common use - few of the words noted are still in common parlance today.
Moore's work notes the specific patterns of pronunciation for words in the dialect, many of which are no longer present in the last vestiges of the Manx dialect thanks to the influence of mainstream English.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Modern Anglo-Manx lexicon
o 1.1 Manx loanwords
o 1.2 Superstitions and word replacement
o 1.3 Anglo-Manx phrases
• 2 References
[edit] Modern Anglo-Manx lexicon
Some of the following terms surviving from the original Anglo-Manx dialect are still in occasional use today. The task of identifying dialectical usage is complicated by the large cross-over between Manx Gaelic, idiomatic usage and technical/organisational terms such as "advocate" and "deemster".
• Across - the UK mainland i.e. across the water
• At - in possession of - from Gaelic usage. "He's got a nice house at him".
• At all - in the least, whatever. "I don't know at all".
• Aye - yes
• Boy - common address from one male to another, originally an unmarried male
• Coalie - a coal fish
• Comeover - a non-Manx person living in the Isle of Man, usually used in a derogatory sense for arrogant people who believe themselves superior.
• Fell - hill, of Scandinavian origin
• Feller/Fella - a man/mate (fellow), common to other dialects, but much more frequent in Anglo-Manx
• For - towards, to ; at the period of; wherefore, the reason why; in order to. "Are you for goin' ?"
• Gilpin - young fish of indeterminite species, especially callig
• Herrin - herring, pronounced the same as 'heron'
• Hey Boy - verbal greeting from one male to another
• Himself - the master of the house, the husband. "Is Himself in ?"
• In - in existence. "The best that's in"
• Kirk - Church, used in parish names, of Scandinavian origin
• Mann - the Isle of Man - "Gaut made it, and all in Mann"
• Manxie - a Manx person or a Manx cat
• Mark - a fishing-ground distinguished by landmarks
• Middlin' - tolerable - an equivalent of the Manx "castreycair"
• Neck - impudence - "Oh, the neck of him !"
• Sally/Sallie - a willow tree, where the placename Ballasalla derives
• Skeet - news, gossip, [possibly cognate with "skite" in English dialect] also to take a look at something.
• Skutch - a quantity of something - "There were a skutch of people there"
• Sowel - archaic form of address. "Poor Sowel !"
• Themselves - fairies
• Twenty Four - the House of Keys
• Ukered - knackered (as in tired)
• Up is used for going south, down for going north, out for going west
• Yessir - form of address from Ussey (ussa) the genitive of "you" in Manx Gaelic - "Alright, yessir !"
[edit] Manx loanwords
Words of Manx Gaelic origin frequently cropped up in the original dialect, as did patterns of speech derived from Gaelic usage. In modern usage, much fewer words of Gaelic origin are used, symptomatic of the decline of Manx Gaelic in its later years.
• Bollan Bane - mugwort
• Bonnag - a flat loaf of bread
• Bravvag - to warm the backs of the legs by the fire
• Broogh - a steep bank, a grassy cliff/headland
• Callig - the Pollack fish
• Chymlee - the actual Manx word for chimney
• Claddagh - floodplain
• Croggan - a horsefly
• Cronk - hill
• Cruinnaght - cultural gathering
• Curragh - an area of willow carr (swamp/bog)
• Cushag - ragwort, the National Flower of the Isle of Man
• Dub - a small hollow, damp area or pool
• Ellan Vannin - Isle of Man
• Ferrain - hogweed
• Garee - wasteland (sometimes spelt 'garey' which confusingly means 'garden')
• Glen - a wooded valley
• Gobbag pronounced "govag", literally a dogfish, but used to mean someone from the city of Peel
• Hop-tu-Naa - Hallowe'en, possibly cognate with Hogmanay
• Jarrood - from the Manx for "forget", people will speak of being "a bit jarrood"
• Jinney/Ginney/Jinny/Ginny - a stinging nettle
• Jough - a drink
• Keck - shit and derivative Keckin
• Keeill - a small church or chapel
• Mannin - Manx for Isle of Man - compare Ellan Vannin
• Mhelliah - a festival or party to celebrate harvest
• Moal - literally "slow", but used to mean "ill"
• Moaney - peat-land
• Mollag - a dogskin fishing float - "as fat as a Mollag" or "as full of wind as a Mollag"
• Qualtagh - the first person met on New Year's Day, first-foot.
• Slaynt - health, cheers
• Tholtan - an abandoned farm
• Tramman - an elder tree
• Tynwald - the Manx parliament, from Norse 'Thingvollr'
[edit] Superstitions and word replacement
Because of the unpredictable nature of weather in the Irish sea, fishing could be a dangerous business - sailors were consequently very superstitious and it was considered taboo to use certain words or behaviours (using the word "conney" for rabbit, or whistling, for example) whilst on board ship. Some names were substituted for others - "rat" became "long-tailed fella".
This has evolved into a modern superstition where the word "rat" (roddan in Manx) is considered unlucky, even when not used aboard ship. This may have originally been used in a jokey fashion, but seems to have been adopted in modern times by those who wish to make themselves sound "more Manx" by adopting this mannerism & indeed is often quoted as typical Manx behaviour even though the old Manx had few qualms about using the word. In reality this is a rather warped version of the original sea-taboo.
Alternate words for rat in neo-Anglo-Manx dialect :
• Longtail
• Iron fella
• Joey
• Queerfella
• Ringie
• r-a-t - a more recent expression, owing to increased immigration, note that for 'an', instead of 'a' is used as the indefinite article
[edit] Anglo-Manx phrases
A few phrases, have survived to be common parlance, amongst these (all of Gaelic origin):
• Traa dy Liooar - (Tray dah looar) Manx for "time enough"
• Lhiam-Lhiat - (lyam-lyat) An inconsistent person who changes sides easily - from Manx Gaelic for "with me - with you"
• Bock Yuan Fannee - "John the Flayer's Pony" - on foot, cf "Shanks' pony" in English dialect.
Mid Ulster English
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Mid Ulster English is the dialect of most people in the traditional province of Ulster in Ireland, including those in the two main cities. It represents a cross-over area between Ulster Scots and Hiberno-English.
It is an English-based dialect spoken across mid Ulster between the Lagan and Clogher valleys in areas historically planted by settlers, the majority of which came over to Ireland from the West Midlands region in Britain. The dialect has enjoyed higher social prestige than the Ulster Scots dialects that have influenced it to varying degrees. The dialect is currently encroaching on the Ulster Scots area, especially in the Belfast commuter belt, and may eventually consume it.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
o 1.1 Vowels
o 1.2 Consonants
• 2 Mid-Ulster English by region
o 2.1 Belfast
o 2.2 North, north-east and east Ulster
o 2.3 Derry
o 2.4 Tyrone
• 3 Vocabulary
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links
[edit] Phonology
Main article: phonemic differentiation.
Phonetics are in IPA.
[edit] Vowels
/i/ feet /əi/ fight
/e/ fate /əʉ/ shout
/ɛ/ bet /ɛ̈/ bit
/a/ bat /ɔ̈/ but
/ɑ/ pot /ɔː/ bought
/o/ boat /aː/ father
/ʉ/ boot /ɔe/ boy
• Vowels have phonemic vowel length with one set of lexically long and one of lexically short phonemes. This may be variously influenced by the Scots system.
• /a/ in after /w/ e.g. want, what, quality.
• /ɑ/ and /ɔː/ distinction in cot, body and caught, bawdy. Some varieties neutralise the distinction in long environments, e.g. don = dawn and pod = pawed.
• like, light, meat and beard also with /e/ [lek], [let], [met], [berd]
• /e/ may occur in such words as beat, decent, leave, Jesus etc.
• Lagan Valley /ɛ/ before /k/ in take and make etc.
• /ɛ/ before velars in sack, bag, and bang etc.
• Merger of /a/ - /aː/ in all monosyllables e.g. Sam and psalm [sɑːm].
• /i/ may occur before palatalized consonants, e.g. king, fish , condition, brick and sick.
• /ɑ/ may occur before /p/ and /t/ in tap and top etc.
• /ʉ/ before /r/ in floor, whore, door, board etc.
• Vowel oppositions before /r/, e.g. /ɛrn/ earn, /fɔr/ for and /for/ four.
[edit] Consonants
• Rhoticity, that is, retention of /r/ in all positions.
• Palatalisation of /k, g, ŋ/ in the environment of front vowels.
• Clear /l/ in all positions.
• Aspiration in words beginning with dr and tr for example drum and tractor
• /b/ for /p/ in words like pepper
• /d/ for /t/ in words like butter
• /g/ for /k/ in words like packet
• /ʍ/ - /w/ contrast in which - witch.
• Dental realisations of /t, d, n, l/ may occur through Irish influence before /r/, e.g. ladder, matter, dinner and pillar etc.
• Lenition of /d/ in hand [hɑːn], candle /'kanl/ and old [əʉl] etc.
• Lenition of /b, g/ in lamb [lam] and sing [sɪŋ], thimble, finger etc.
• /θ/ and /ð/ for th.
• /x/ for gh is retained in proper names and a few dialect words or pronunciations, e.g. lough, trough and sheugh.
[edit] Mid-Ulster English by region
[edit] Belfast
The urban Belfast dialect is not limited to the capital itself but also neighbouring cities and towns like Lisburn as well as towns whose inhabitants are mostly from Belfast (Craigavon further west in Co. Armagh). The dialect has influenced the way the rest of the province sounds through media (Radio Ulster, BBC Northern Ireland) and a growing number of young people are adopting the Belfast accent and vocabulary through these as well as commuting etc.
Features of the accent include several vowel shifts, including one from /æ/ to /ɛ/ (/bɛg/ for "bag"). The accent is also arguably more nasal compared to the rest of Ulster[1].
Some of the vocabulary used among young people in Ulster such as the word "spide" are of Belfast origin.
[edit] North, north-east and east Ulster
The dialect in some places here is similar, if not identical to the Belfast dialect, but (especially rural) places such as north Antrim are strongly Ulster Scots-influenced and Scots pronunciation of words is often heard.
In the 1830s, Ordnance Survey memoirs came to the following conclusion about the dialect of the inhabitants of Carnmoney, east Antrim:
“ Their accent is peculiarly, and among old people disagreeably strong and broad. ”
[2]
Interestingly, the Antrim accent (or rather that of Antrim politician Dr. Ian Paisley) was found in a recent BBC survey to be the "least pleasant" by English, Welsh and Scottish participants but "acceptable" to participants in Northern Ireland[3], which sheds some light on outsiders' opinion of Mid-Ulster English (or of course may also simply reflect people's opinions of the aforementioned person).
[edit] Derry
The speech of the inhabitants of Ulster's second largest city and the inhabitants around it is quite different to that of Belfast. There is a higher incidence of palatalisation after /k/ and its voiced equivalent /g/[4](eg. /kʲɑɹ/ "kyar" for "car"), perhaps through influence from Hiberno-English.
[edit] Tyrone
The speech in Co. Tyrone is again influenced by Hiberno-English, but still retains a large lexicon with many words from Ulster Scots and Irish[5].
[edit] Vocabulary
Much non-standard vocabulary found in Mid Ulster English and many meanings of standard English words peculiar to the dialect come from Scots and Irish. Some examples are shown in the table below. Many of these are also used in general Hiberno-English.
Mid-Ulster English Standard English Notes
Ach!/Och! annoyance, regret, etc. (general exclamation) Usually used to replace "Oh!" and "Ah!". "Ach" is Irish for "but", which is usually use in the same context.
aye yes
bake mouth From Scots, extension of meaning from beak. Many body parts are also from Scots: see below.
boke, boak vomit From Scots bowk with Ulster vocalisation to /o/.
cowp, cope to tip over, to fall over From Scots cowp with Ulster vocalisation to /o/.
crack
banter, fun, eg. "What's the crack (with ye)?" - "What's up?" From Scots or Northern English. Often craic the recently-adopted Irish spelling.
culchie
a farmer, rural dweller either from "Kiltimagh" (KULL-cha-mah), a town in Co Mayo or from the -culture in "agriculture".
dander walk (noun or verb) Almost always a noun in (Ulster) Scots (daunder), its use as a verb is English influence.
duke, jouk, juke look (usually a noun) Possibly rhyming slang for "look", maybe from Geoff Duke ([6]), or from Scots jouk, "to dodge".
gob, gub mouth Perhaps from Scots gab, but also Scottish Gaelic and Irish gob, mouth.
gutties plimsolls Note also the phrase "Give her the guttie" - "Step on it (accelerate)". From Gutta-percha, india-rubber, Also used in Scotland.
hallion a good-for-nothing From Scots.
(to have) a hoak, hoke to look for, e.g. "Have a wee hoak" - "Take a look". From Scots howk with Ulster vocalisation to /o/.
jap to spill From Scots jaup.
lug ear Scots, almost certainly from a Scandinavian source, eg. Norwegian lugg, a tuft of hair.
oxter armpit Scots
poke ice-cream From Scots poke a bag or pouch.
scunnered, scundered embarrassed (esp. Belfast area), annoyed (around Tyrone) From Scots scunner.
sheugh Pronounced /ʃʌx/ a small, shallow ditch. From Scots sheuch.
thon that From Scots, originally yon, the th by analogy with this and that.
throughother untidy, like "something the cat dragged in" Throughother was used to describe houses that you had to pass through one room to get to another, which was untidy. And so throughother came to be used to describe anything that is untidy.
wee little, but also used as a generic diminutive
Cognate with German wenig, meaning "a little", although more closely related to English weigh.
Furthermore, speakers of the dialect conjugate many verbs according to how they are formed in Scots, eg. driv instead of drove as the past tense of drive, etc.
East Midlands English
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Traditionally, "East Midlands English" was spoken in those parts of Mercia lying East of Watling Street (the A5 London - Shrewsbury Road). Today this area is represented by the counties of the East Midlands of England, (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland (and Northamptonshire, see below).
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Origins
• 2 East Midlands Dialects in Literature
• 3 Dialect Words
• 4 Grammar
o 4.1 Formal address
o 4.2 Personal pronouns
o 4.3 Reflexive pronouns
• 5 Dialect Variations within the Region
• 6 External links
o 6.1 Links to East Midlands Dialect in Literature
• 7 Counties in which East Midlands English is Spoken
[edit] Origins
Like that of Yorkshire, the East Midlands dialect owes much of its grammar and vocabulary to Nordic influences, the region having been incorporated in the Norse controlled Danelaw in the late 9th century. For example, the East Midlands word scraight ('to cry') is thought to be derived from the Norse, skrike in modern Scandinavian, also meaning to cry.[1]
[edit] East Midlands Dialects in Literature
The romantic English novelist, and East Midlander, D. H. Lawrence who was from the Nottinghamshire town of Eastwood wrote in the dialect of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Coalfield in several dialect poems as well as in his more famous works such as Lady Chatterley's Lover and Sons and Lovers. [2]
Though spoken less commonly today, the dialect of the East Midlands has been investigated in notable texts such as the affectionately titled Ey Up Mi Duck[3] series of books (and an LP) by Richard Scollins and John Titford. These books were originally intended as a study of Derbyshire Dialect, particuarly the distinctive speech of Ilkeston and the Erewash valley, but later editions acknowledge similarities in vocabulary and grammar which unite the East Midlands dialects and broadened their appeal to the region as a whole.
"Ey Up" is a greeting of uncertain origin used widely throughout the North Midlands and South Yorkshire, and "Mi Duck" is thought to be derived from a respectful Anglo Saxon form of address, "Duka" (Literally "Duke"), and is unrelated to waterfowl. [4] Non-natives of the East Midlands are often surprised to hear men greet each other as 'Mi Duck.' [5]
[edit] Dialect Words
In recent years, humorous texts such as Nottingham, As it is spoke[6] have combined phonetically spelt standard English words together in order to deliberately confuse non-natives to the region. However, there are many words in use in the traditional East Midlands Dialect which do not appear in standard English. The short list below is by no means exhaustive. More comprehensive 'dictionaries' exist within texts such as Ey Up Mi Duck by Richards Scollins and John Titford.
ay up! / ey up!
a common greeting
bonny
Overweight
(Not to be confused with the
Scots word meaning 'beautiful')
cob
a bread roll (bap)
gleg
to look
jitty/jetty
alleyway
larup
to cover with
mash
to make a cup of tea
nesh
a weak person, or one who feels the cold
puther
to pour out uncontrollably pot
a plaster cast
rammel
rubbish/waste
scraight
to cry
snap
lunch/food
snidered
covered
sucker
Iced Lolly
twitchel
alleyway
tabs
ears
yawp / yorp
to shout
* Ay (or ey) up mi duck - hello there!
* Aya gorra weeya? - is the wife with you?
* It's black uvver Bill's mother's - it looks like rain
* Coggie - swimming costume
* Croaker - doctor
* Duck's necks - bottle of lemonade
* Gorra bag on - in a bad mood
* Laropped - drunk
* Nesh - cold
* Old cock - friend or mate
* Page owl - single woman out alone at night
* Skants - pants
* The rally - the railway line
* Thiz summat up wee im - I think he may be ill
* Who's mashing? - who's making the cups of tea
[edit] Grammar
Those who speak traditional regional dialects are not trying to speak Standard English and failing. East Midlands English follows a series of distinct gramatical rules. Some examples follow below.
[edit] Formal address
Up until the mid 20th century it was not uncommon to hear the use of informal forms of address, Thee and Thou, as compared to the more formal Yo or You. Use of the informal form of address is now uncommon in modern speech.
[edit] Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns differ from standard English as follows;
yorn
yours
mine
mine theirn
theirs
ourn
ours
Example "It eent theirn it's ourn!" (It isn't theirs, it's ours!)
[edit] Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are characterised by the replacement of Self with 'Sen' (From Middle English seluen)
Y'usen - Yourself, Mesen - Myself, Thisens - Themselves/Yourselves, Ussens - Ourselves
Example "We s'll ay to do it ussens." (We shall have to do it ourselves)
[edit] Dialect Variations within the Region
Although in the East Midlands, Kettering dialect is influenced by the dialects of East Anglia, the West Midlands and the South. Its dialect is perhaps best classed as East Anglian. In the northern part of the county, around Corby the anomalous dialect of Corbyite is spoken, which reflects the migrations of large numbers of Scottish and Irish Steelworkers to the town during the 20th Century. [7]
West Midlands English
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Some information in this article or section is not attributed to sources and may not be reliable.
Please check for inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.
West Midlands English is a group of dialects of the English language. The traditional Black Country dialect preserves many archaic traits of Early Modern English and even Middle English, and can be very confusing for outsiders. Thee, Thy and Thou are still in use. "'Ow B'ist", meaning "How beist thou?" is a common greeting, with the typical answering being "'Bay too bah", meaning "I bayn't be too bad". "I haven't seen her" becomes "I ay sid 'er". Somebody from the Black Country will often substitute the word "ar" instead of "yes".
The thick Black Country dialect is less commonly heard today than in the past.
Northern English
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Northern English is a group of dialects of the English language. It includes Northumbrian, which is more similar in some respects to Scots. Among the other dialects are Cumbrian, Tyke (Yorkshire dialect) and Scouse. Northern English shows Danish influence because parts of its area used to be under Danish control. Northern English is one of the major groupings of British English, which also goes for East Anglian English, Midlands English and Southern English.
Northern English contains:
• Cumbrian dialect
• Geordie (spoken in the Newcastle upon Tyne/Greater Tyneside area)
• Lancashire dialect
• Mackem (spoken in Sunderland/Wearside)
• Mancunian (spoken in the Manchester area). Sometimes considered as a "watered-down" version of Lancashire dialect.
• Pitmatic (two variations, one spoken in the former mining communities of County Durham and the other in Northumberland)
• Scouse (spoken in Liverpool with variations as far as North Wales)
• Tees speak (Teesside dialect - spoken in some areas of County Durham and Yorkshire, mainly around the Tees estuary)
• Tyke (spoken in Yorkshire)
In some areas, it can be noticed that dialects and phrases can vary greatly within regions too. For example, the Lancashire dialect has many sub-dialects and varies noticeably from town to town. Even within as little as 5 miles there can be an identifiable change in accent. The Yorkshire Dialect Society has always separated West Riding dialect from that in the North and East ridings.
Scottish English
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Scottish English is usually taken to mean the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, often termed Scottish Standard English. It is the language normally used in formal, non-fictional written texts in Scotland. Some people consider Scottish English to include Scots whereas others treat it separately.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Background
• 2 Lexis
• 3 Phonology
• 4 Syntax
• 5 References
• 6 See also
• 7 External links
[edit] Background
Scottish English is the result of language contact between Scots and English after the 17th century (dialect contact may be more accurate in that the indigenous language Lowland Scots was a related variety). The resulting shift to English by Scots-speakers resulted in many phonological compromises and lexical transfers, often mistaken for mergers by linguists unfamiliar with the history of Scottish English. Furthermore, the process was also influenced by interdialectal forms, hypercorrections and spelling pronunciations. (See Phonology below)
The standard spelling, grammar, and punctuation of Scottish English tend to follow the style of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). However, there are some unique characteristics, mainly in the phonological and phonetic systems, many of which originate in the country's two autochthonous languages, the Scottish Gaelic language and Scots. The speech of the middle classes in Scotland often conforms to the grammatical norms of the written standard, particularly in situations that are regarded as formal. Highland English is slightly different from the variety spoken in the lowlands in that it is more phonologically, grammatically, and lexically influenced by a Gaelic substratum.
[edit] Lexis
General items are outwith, meaning outside of; pinkie for little finger; doubt meaning to think or suspect; and wee, the Scots word for small (which also occurs in Hiberno-English). Correct is often preferred to right (meaning "morally right" or "just") when the speaker means "factually accurate".
Culturally specific items like caber, haggis, and landward for rural.
In some areas there is a substantial[citation needed] non-standard lexis (shared with Scots) apparently acquired from the Romany language and from Eastern European languages[citation needed]; examples include gadge (lad, chap) and peeve (alcoholic drink).
There is a wide range of (often anglicised) legal and administrative vocabulary inherited from Scots. depute /ˈdɛpjuːt/ for deputy. proven /ˈproːvən/ for proved, and sheriff substitute for acting sheriff.
[edit] Phonology
An example of a Scottish male with a middle-class Renfrewshire accent (help•info)
Simplified overview of the Scottish vowel system for Central Scotland. The vowel numbers are those from the scheme devised by A.J. Aitken. The Lexical Sets are those from the scheme devised by J.C. Wells. Phonetics are in IPA.
Scots Vowel Scottish English Lexical Set
8a aye (always), gey (very), Mey (May), pey (pay), wey (way) əi
10 evite (avoid), jyne (join), pynt (point), ile (oil), chyce (choice)
1s bite, bide, , tide bite, bide, price, wife (/ai/) PRICE
1l five, size, fry, ay (yes), kye (cows), fire aˑe five, size, fry, eye, die, lie, tied, fire
2 meet, need, queen, sieven (seven), deil (devil), here, gie (give) i meet, need, queen, see, meat, steal, here FLEECE
NEAR
11 ee (eye), dee (die), dree (endure), lee (noun lie), see
3 meat, braith (breath), deid (dead), heid (head), steal, peir (pear), meir (mare) Merges with 2, 4 or 8
4 aik (oak), ait (oat), saip (soap), baith (both), hame (home), stane (stone), hale (whole), tae (toe), gae (go), late, pale, bathe, day, say, mair (more), care e late, pale, bathe, day, say, away, May, pay, way, care, mare, pear FACE
SQUARE
8 bait, braid (broad), hail, pail, pair e: may merge with 4 bait, braid, hail, pail pair
5 throat, coat, thole (endure), rose, afore (before) o may merge with 18 throat, coat, rose, before, oak, oat, soap, both, home, stone, whole, toe, go, shoulder, old, cold, mow, snow, grow, over, solder, colt, roll, more, Forth GOAT
18 cot, God, on, loch, bocht (bought), horse, Forth ɔ cot, God, on, golf, knoll, horse LOT
CLOTH
6 aboot (about), bouk (bulk), poupit (pulpit), lood (loud), pouder (powder), shouder (sholder), room, mooth (mouth), hoose (house), loose (louse), cou (cow), nou (now), fou (full), pushion (poison), plew (plough), oo (wool), oor (hour/our), soor (sour) u boot, fruit, moon, pool, rule, loose, poor, do, chew, blue, true, two, moor, sure GOOSE
put, good, hook, room, full, pull, wool, pulpit FOOT
7 buit (boot), fruit, guid (good), muin (moon), uiss (use n.), uise (use v.) luve (love), dae (do), muir (moor), puir (poor), shuir (sure) ø merged with 4l, 15s
9 Boyd, noise, boy, joy oi Boyd, noise, boy, joy, avoid, join, point, oil, choice, poison CHOICE
12 faut (fault), saut (salt), fraud, mawn (mown), auld (old), cauld (cold), hauch (meadow), cause, law, snaw (snow), aw (all), awa (away), faw (fall), twa (two), faur (far), daur (dare), waur (worse) ɑ:/ɔ: bought, fault, salt, fraud, cause. law, all, fall, war THOUGHT
13 nowt (cattle), cowt (colt), gowf (golf), sowder (solder), lowse (loose), chowe (chew), growe (grow), knowe (knoll), fower (four), ower (over), rowe (roll) ʌu about, loud, powder, mouth, house, louse, cow, now, plough, bough, hour, sour MOUTH
14 duty, feud, rule, news, dew, few, blue, true
*heuk (hook), *neuk (nook), *beuch (bough), *teuch (tough), *pleuchs (ploughs) ju
(j)u/(j)ʌ duty, feud, news, dew, few, use n., use v., cure CURE
15 bit, pit (put), lid, hiss, gird (hoop), his, nixt (next), whither (whether), yird (earth), fir ɪ bit, lid, hiss, give, his, fir KIT
16 met, bed, ledder (leather), meh (bleat), ser (serve), Perth, Ker ɛ seven, devil, next, whether, earth, met, bed, leather, breath, dead, head, leaven, revel, vex, serve, Perth, defer, Ker DRESS
17 sat, lad, man, jazz, vase, warst, mar a sat, lad, man, jazz, vase, far, mar TRAP
BATH
START
19 butt, bud, buss, buff, wird (word), fur ʌ butt, bud, bus, buff, buzz, love, bulk, tough, word, worse, worst, fur STRUT
* From development of Vowel 7 before /k/ and /x/.
Pronunciation features vary among speakers, and there are social and regional differences (Wells 1982):
• It is a rhotic accent, with r still pronounced before consonants or silence. It may be [r] (an alveolar trill), though more commonly a alveolar tap [ɾ] and especially post-alveolar approximant [ɹ], depending on the phonological context.
• The differentiation between "w" in witch and "wh" in which, [w] and [ʍ] respectively survives.
• The phoneme /x/ is also still common in names and in SSE's many Gaelic and Scots borrowings, so much so that it is often taught to incomers, particularly for "ch" in loch. Some Scottish speakers use it in words of Greek origin as well, such as technical, patriarch, etc. (Wells 1982, 408).
• L is usually dark, though in areas where Gaelic was recently spoken—including Dumfries and Galloway—a clear l may be found.
• Vowel length is usually regarded as non-phonemic, but is a crucial aspect of the accent (Scobbie et al. 1999). It most clearly affects /i/, /u/ and /ae/. Predictable short vowel duration gives many Scottish accents a distinctive "clipped" pronunciation before two classes of consonants, namely nasals, for example spoon [spun] and voiced stops, especially /d/, e.g. brood /brud/. This is generally the same as in the Scots language, but the latter includes minimal pairs for /ae/ e.g. gey, "very" vs. /aːe/ e.g. guy. Vowel length is nearly phonemic in SSE because when open syllable verbs are suffixed they remain long, thus vowel length clearly distinguishes e.g. crude vs. crewed, need vs. kneed, and side vs. sighed.
• SSE usually distinguishes between [ɛ]-[ɪ]-[ʌ] before [r] in herd-bird-curd, in Received Pronunciation these have merged into [ɜː].
• Many varieties contrast /o/ and /ɔ/ before [r] as in hoarse and horse.
• SSE contrasts [oːr] and [uːr], as in shore and pour vs. sure and poor.
• Fool and full have [u] or [ʉ] or [y] in SSE where RP differentiates.
• SSE pronounces both cot and caught [ɔ].
• Cat and cart are differentiated as allophones, but are not phonemes, so that Sam and psalm are homophonous.
• The following may occur in colloquial speech, usually among the young, especially males. They are not usually regarded as part of SSE, their origin being in Scots:
o The use of glottal stops for [t] between vowels or word final after a vowel, for example butter /ˈbʌʔəɹ/ and cat /ˈkaʔ/.
o The realisation of the nasal velar in the suffix "-ing" as a nasal alveolar "in'" for example talking /ˈtɔːkɪn/.
o th-glottalisation, i.e., the use of /h/ where Scottish Standard English has /T/ in initial and intervocalic position leading to pronunciations such as /hɪŋ/, /hɪŋk/ and /hri/ for "thing", "think" and "three". This occurs across Lowland Scotland.
[edit] Syntax
Syntactical differences are few though in colloquial speech shall and ought are wanting, must is marginal for obligation and may is rare. Many syntactical features of SSE are found in other forms of English, e.g. English English and North American English:
• Can I come too? or Can I come as well?' for "May I come too?"
• Have you got any? for "Do you have any?"
• I've got one of those already. for "I have one of those already."
• It's your shot. for "It's your turn."
• My hair is needing washed. or My hair needs washed for "My hair needs washing."
• Amn't I invited? for "Am I not invited?"
• How no? for "Why not?"
The use of "How?" meaning "Why?" is unique to Scottish and Northern Irish English.
Note that in Scottish English, the first person declarative I amn't invited and interrogative "Amn't I invited?" are both possible. Contrast English English, which has "Aren't I?" but no contracted declarative form. (All varieties have "I'm not invited".)
Other examples are distinctively Scots:
• Dae ye ken Ken kens Ken? for "Do you know Ken knows Ken?"
• Am I no invited? for "Am I not invited?"
However the former is easily explained by translating the sentence into German: Weißt du dass Ken Ken kennt? and the latter is not necessarily a syntactic difference, rather one of pronunciation. Other influences from Scots may occur, depending on the speaker.
[edit] References
• Abercrombie, D. (1979). "The accents of Standard English in Scotland.", in In A. J. Aitken & T. McArthur (eds.),: Languages of Scotland. Edinburgh: Chambers, 65–84.
• Aitken, A. J. (1979) "Scottish speech: a historical view with special reference to the Standard English of Scotland" in A. J. Aitken and Tom McArthur eds. Languages of Scotland, Edinburgh: Chambers, 85-118. Updated in next.
• Corbett, John, J. Derrick McClure, and Jane Stuart-Smith (eds.) (2003). Edinburgh Student Companion to Scots. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-1596-2.
• Foulkes, Paul; & Docherty, Gerard. J. (Eds.) (1999). Urban Voices: Accent Studies in the British Isles. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-70608-2.
• Hughes, A., Trudgill, P. & Watt, D. (Eds.) (2005). English Accents and Dialects (4th Ed.). London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-88718-4.
• Scobbie, James M., Nigel Hewlett, and Alice Turk (1999). "Standard English in Edinburgh and Glasgow: The Scottish Vowel Length Rule revealed.", in In Paul Foulkes & Gerard J. Docherty (eds.),: Urban Voices: Accent Studies in the British Isles. London: Arnold, 230–245.
• Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22919-7 (vol. 1), ISBN 0-521-24224-X (vol. 2), ISBN 0-521-24225-8 (vol. 3).
Welsh English
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Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish (see below) refer to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly modified by Welsh grammar and nouns, and contain a number of unique words. In addition to the distinctive words and grammar, there is a variety of accents found across Wales.
John Edwards has written and spoken entertainingly about a specific form of Welsh English — that found in the south-east area of Wales — as Wenglish. Some people, generally outside Wales, use the same word to refer to any form of English spoken in Wales.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Pronunciation and Peculiarities
• 2 Influence of the Welsh language
• 3 Regional accents within Wales
• 4 Influence outside Wales
• 5 External links
• 6 References
[edit] Pronunciation and Peculiarities
Some of the features of Welsh English are
• Distinctive pitch differences giving a "sing-song" effect.
• Lengthening of all vowels is common in strong valleys accents.
• Pronouncing a short 'i' as 'eh' e.g. edit would become 'ed-et' and benefit would be 'benefet'
• A tendency towards using an alveolar trill [r] (the 'rolled r') in place of an approximant [ɹ] (the 'normal English r').
• Yod-dropping does not occur after any consonant, so rude and rood, threw and through, chews and choose, chute and shoot, for example, are distinct.
• Sometimes adding the word "like" to the end of a sentence for emphasis, or using it as a stop-gaps.
[edit] Influence of the Welsh language
As well as straightforward borrowings of words from the Welsh language (cwtch, brawd), grammar from the language has crept into English spoken in Wales. Placing something at the start of a sentence emphasises it: "furious, she was". Periphrasis and auxiliary verbs are used in spoken Welsh, resulting in the English: "He does go there", "I do do it", particularly in the so-called Wenglish accent.
There is also evidence of the misappropriation into English sentence forms of Welsh verbs. The Welsh verb dysgu (meaning both to learn and to teach) is mistranslated in the common Wenglish form, "He learned me to drive," in place of the correct English usage, "He taught me to drive," although the reverse error is not usually heard.
[edit] Regional accents within Wales
There is a very wide range of regional accents within Wales.
The sing-song Welsh accent familiar to many English people is generally associated with South Wales. Accents from South Wales can be heard from the actors Richard Burton and (to a lesser extent) Anthony Hopkins, or on recordings of Dylan Thomas. Swansea accents are prominent in the film Twin Town. The popular Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones also has a Swansea accent. The singers Shirley Bassey and Charlotte Church, meanwhile, are from Cardiff. The accent of Newport is also distinctive, quite different from that of Cardiff just a few miles down the road.
The accents of North Wales are markedly different. In North West Wales the accent is less sing-song, with a more consistently high-pitched voice and the vowels pressed to the back of the throat. The "R" sound is rolled extensively and the dark L is used at the beginning or middle of words, for example in "lose", "bloke", and "valley". The sound IPA: [z] is often pronounced unvoiced (the sound does not exist in Welsh), so "lose" is pronounced the same as "loose".
In North East Wales, the accent can sound like that of Cheshire or Staffordshire. Scouse-like Liverpool accents are used around Holywell, Queensferry and Flint. Around Wrexham, accents are similar to Scouse and younger people in particular have begun to use more Scouse-like vocabulary, such as "la","lyd" and "kid." To the ears of an Englishman a Wrexham accent can sound Scouse or just generally like Northern English. Similarly, in eastern parts of South East Wales, accents can have some characteristics of the English West Country accent. It is also possible for a person from the Wrexham area to have a South Walian accent. This is probably due to South Walians moving to the area to work in the many pits that were around Wrexham.
The accents of West-Wales, especially North Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, are gentler in nature than either the "valleys" or the Northern Welsh accents and are, by repute, one of the more beautiful British accents to listen to. In the South of Pembrokeshire, a unique accent//dialect is heard among natives to the area which takes influences from the North Pembrokeshire/Carmarthenshire Welsh accent and an almost Cornish accent, certain Welsh words such as 'crwt' and 'pwdu' are used, despite the majority of people in the area not having a complete understanding of the Welsh language. Due to the high number of English migrants to the area, this accent is sometimes ignored and South Pembrokeshire is classed as having an almost English accent, however this is incorrect.
An online survey for the BBC ([1]) reported in January 2005 placed the Swansea accent in the bottom ten accents likely to help a career, although "Cardiff folk ranked only a few places higher".
It is worth noting that accents in Wales vary even within a relatively short distance. Within Swansea itself there is a striking difference between the West Swansea accent (which sounds relatively English) compared to the rest of Swansea. The Neath accent is different again. Within Carmarthenshire, there is a noticeable difference between the Carmarthen, Llanelli and Ammanford accents. Llanelli accents tend to be very broad, Ammanford accents tend to have a softer Welsher lilt, while towards Carmarthen there is more of a hint of anglicisation on the accent.
[edit] Influence outside Wales
While English accents have affected Anglo-Welsh, it was by no means a one way traffic. In particular, Scouse and Brummie accents have both had extensive Anglo-Welsh input through immigration, although in the former case, the influence of Anglo-Irish is better known.
West Country dialects
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The West Country dialects or West Country accents are generic terms applied to any of several English dialects or accents used by much of the indigenous population of the southwestern part of England, the area popularly known as the West Country. This region encompasses Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire (and sometimes Gloucestershire), although the northern and eastern boundaries of the area are hard to define. The city of Bristol has its own local dialect which is also distinctly West Country in tone. Immigration to the towns from other regions means that the dialects are now only commonly encountered in rural areas.
In the nearby counties of Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, it was possible to encounter comparable accents and, indeed, distinct local dialects until perhaps the 1960s. Although natives of such locations, especially in western parts, can still have West Country influences in their speech, this is less than in the true West Country counties. The increased mobility and urbanisation of the population have meant that local Berkshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight dialects (as opposed to accents) are today essentially extinct.
Strong West Country accents can still be difficult for speakers of Standard English to understand. Although popularly considered to be only accents, academically the regional variations are considered to be dialect forms. The Survey of English Dialects captured manners of speech across the West Country that were just as different from Standard English as anything from the far North. These are dialects of English and should not be confused with Cornish, which is a Celtic language related to Welsh, and more closely to Breton.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 In literature
o 1.1 Early period
o 1.2 17th Century
o 1.3 18th Century
o 1.4 19th Century
o 1.5 20th century
• 2 Contemporary
• 3 History and origins
o 3.1 Celtic language influence
• 4 Characteristics
• 5 Additional selected vocabulary
• 6 Social Stigma and Future of West Country Dialect
• 7 See also
• 8 External links
[edit] In literature
In literary terms, most of the usage has been in either poetry or dialogue, to add "local colour". It has rarely been used for serious prose in recent times, but was used much more extensively up to the 19th century.
[edit] Early period
• The Wessex dialect was the standard literary language of Anglo-Saxon England, and consequently the majority of Anglo-Saxon literature, including the epic poem Beowulf, is preserved in West Saxon dialects.
• In the medieval period, Judith and Sumer is icumen in (13th century) are notable examples of works in the dialect.
[edit] 17th Century
• In King Lear, Edgar speaks in the West Country dialect, as one of his various personae.
[edit] 18th Century
• Tom Jones (1749) by Henry Fielding, set in Somerset, again mainly dialogue. Considered one of the first true English novels.
[edit] 19th Century
• William Barnes' Dorset dialect poetry (1801–1886).
• Anthony Trollope's (1815–1882) series of books Chronicles of Barsetshire (1855–1867) also use some in dialogue. "Barsetshire" is thinly disguised Dorset.
• The novels of Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) often use the dialect in dialogue, notably Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891).
• Wiltshire Rhymes and Tales in the Wiltshire Dialect (1894) containing The Wiltshire Moonrakers by Edward Slow, available online here
• The Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Sorcerer is set in the fictional village of Ploverleigh in Somerset. Some dialogue and song lyrics, especially for the chorus, are a phonetic approximation of West Country speech. The Pirates of Penzance is also set in Cornwall.
[edit] 20th century
• A Glastonbury Romance (1933) by John Cowper Powys (1872–1963) ISBN 0-87951-282-2 / ISBN 0-87951-681-X contains dialogue written in imitation of the local Somerset dialect.
• Laurie Lee's (1914–1997), works such as Cider with Rosie (1959), portray a somewhat idealised Gloucestershire childhood in the Five Valleys area.
• John Fowles's Daniel Martin, which features the title character's girlfriend's dialect, and which has sometimes been criticised for being too stereotyped.
• Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills is a television play about children in the West Country during the Second World War. The dialogue is written in the style of the local dialect.
[edit] Contemporary
• J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy novels feature Hagrid, a character who is supposed to have some kind of West Country accent.
• Many contemporary pirate films, feature stage versions of West Country accents, e.g. Treasure Island, and Pirates of the Caribbean
• The film Hot Fuzz is set in Gloucester and includes many examples of the dialect. One character's accent is so thick that he can only speak to the protagonist with the help of a local interpreter.
[edit] History and origins
Until the 19th century, the West Country and its dialects were largely protected from outside influences, due to its relative geographical isolation. The West Country dialects derive not from a corrupted form of modern English, but reflect the historical origins of the English language and its historical pronunciation, in particular Late West Saxon, which formed one of the earliest English language standards.
The dialects have their origins in the expansion of Anglo-Saxon into the west of modern-day England, where the kingdom of Wessex (West-Saxons) was founded. From Wessex, the Anglo-Saxons spread into the Celtic region of Dumnonia, bringing their language with them. Penetration of the English language into Cornwall took centuries more; during the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, which centred on Devon and Cornwall, many of the Cornish and Devonians objected to the Prayer Book, the former on the basis that many Cornish could not speak English. The last monoglot Cornish speaker is believed to have been Chesten Marchant, who died in 1676 at Gwithian (Dolly Pentreath was bilingual). In recent years, the traffic has reversed, with the revived Cornish language reclaiming Cornish words that had been preserved in the local dialect into its lexicon, and also (especially "Revived Late Cornish") borrowing other dialect words. However, there has been some controversy over whether all of these words are of native origin, as opposed to imported from other parts of England, or the Welsh Marches[citation needed].
Outside Cornwall, it is thought that the various local dialects may reflect the territories of various Saxon clans (who had their own dialects of Saxon).
As Lt-Col. J.A. Garton observed in 1971 [1], traditional Somerset English has a venerable and respectable origin, and is not a mere "debasement" of Standard English:
"The dialect is not, as some people suppose, English spoken in a slovenly and ignorant way. It is the remains of a language - the court language of King Alfred. Many words, thought to be wrongly pronounced by the countryman, are actually correct, and it is the accepted pronunciation which is wrong. English pronounces W-A-R-M worm, and W-O-R-M wyrm; in the dialect W-A-R-M is pronounced as it is spelt, Anglo-Saxon W-E-A-R-M. The Anglo-Saxon for worm is W-Y-R-M. Polite English pronounces W-A-S-P wosp; the Anglo-Saxon word is W-O-P-S and a Somerset man still says WOPSE. The verb To Be is used in the old form, I be, Thee bist, He be, We be, Thee 'rt, They be. 'Had I known I wouldn't have gone', is 'If I'd a-know'd I 'ooden never a-went'; 'A' is the old way of denoting the past participle, and went is from the verb to wend (Anglo-Saxon wendan)."
In some cases, many of these forms are closer to Standard German than Standard British English is, e.g.
Standard German Somerset Standard British English
Ich bin I be/A be I am
Du bist Thee bist You are (archaic "Thou art")
Er ist He be He is
The use of male (rather than neutral) gender with nouns, and sometimes female, also parallels German, which unlike English retains grammatical genders. The pronunciation of "s" as "z" is also similar to German.
In more recent times, West Country dialects have been treated with some derision, which has led many local speakers to abandon them or water them down. In particular it is British comedy which has brought them to the fore outside their native regions, and paradoxically groups such as The Wurzels, a comic North Somerset/Bristol band from whom the term Scrumpy and Western music originated, have both popularised and made fun of them simultaneously. In an unusual regional breakout, the Wurzels' song Combine Harvester reached the top of the UK charts in 1976, where it did absolutely nothing to dispel the "simple farmer" stereotype of Somerset folk. It and all their songs are sung entirely in a local version of the dialect, which is somewhat exaggerated and distorted.
[edit] Celtic language influence
As previously stated, Brythonic languages have had a long-term influence on the West Country dialects.
There is evidence of some minor Irish settlement in the coastal areas, especially Somerset, but the colonies here were not as large or successful as in Scotland, or even the few in north-west England and west Wales.
The Cornish dialect, or Anglo-Cornish (to avoid confusion with the Cornish language), has the most substantial Celtic language influence, because many western parts were non-English speaking, even into the early modern period. In places such as Mousehole, Newlyn and St Ives, fragments of Cornish survived in English even into the 20th century, e.g. some numerals (esp. for counting fish) and the Lord's Prayer were noted by WD Watson in 1925, Edwin Norris collected the Creed in 1860, and JH Nankivel also recorded numerals in 1865. The dialect of West Penwith is particularly distinctive, especially in terms of grammar. This is most likely due to the late decay of the Cornish language in this area.
In other areas, Celtic vocabulary is less common, but it is notable that "coombe", cognate with Welsh cwm, was borrowed from Brythonic into Old English and is common in placenames east of the Tamar, especially Devon, and also in northern Somerset around Bath. Some possible examples of Brythonic words surviving in Devon dialect include:
• Blooth - A blossom (Welsh blodyn)
• Goco - A bluebell
• Jonnick - Pleasant, agreeable
[edit] Characteristics
• All "r"s in a word are pronounced in a rhotic fashion (and not trilled), in contrast to Standard English where "r" is only pronounced before vowels. West Country pronunciation of "r" corresponds with that in Ireland and in most of North America. For example: park, herd and car.
• Initial fricative consonants can be voiced, so that "s" is pronounced as Standard English "z" and "f" as Standard English "v".
• Long "a" vowels in words such as grass, ask and Bath are represented by the sound [æ:] and not [a:], IE: the same pronunciation as the "a" in gas, mass and crash but longer.
• In Bristol, a terminal "a" can be realised as the sound "aw" - EG: cinema as "cinemaw" and America as "Americaw" - which is often perceived by non-Bristolians to be an intrusive "l". Hence the old joke about the three Bristolian sisters Evil, Idle and Normal — IE: Eva, Ida, and Norma. The name Bristol itself (originally Bridgestowe or Bristow) is believed to have originated from this local pronunciation.
In various districts there are also distinct grammatical and syntactical differences in the dialect:
• The second person singular thee (or ye) and thou forms used, thee often contracted to ee.
• Bist may be used instead of are for the second person, EG: how bist? ("how are you?") This has its origins in the Old English - or Anglo-Saxon - language and is the form adopted as standard in modern German ("Du bist").
• Use of male (rather than neutral) gender with nouns, EG: put him over there ("put it over there") and He's a nice scarf ("That's a nice scarf").
• An a prefix may be used to denote the past participle; a-went ("gone").
• Use of they in conjunction with plural nouns, where Standard English demands those. EG: They shoes are mine ("Those shoes are mine" / "They are mine"). This is also used in Lowland Scots, except that in Scots they are two different words, thae (from Anglo-Saxon ðà, the plural form of that) and they (from Anglo-Saxon þà, the plural form of he, she and it).
• Am used exclusively in the present tense, usually contracted to 'm. EG: you'm, you am ("you are").
• In other areas, be may be used exclusively in the present tense, often in the present continuous; Where you be going to? ("Where are you going?")
• The use of to to denote location. Where's that to? ("Where's that?"). This is something you can still hear a lot, unlike many other characteristics. This former usage is common to Newfoundland English, where many of the island's modern-day descendants have West Country origins - particularly Bristol - as a result of the 17th–19th century migratory fishery.
• Use of the past tense "writ" where Standard English demands "wrote". EG: I writ a letter ("I wrote a letter").
• Nominative pronouns follow some verbs. For instance, Don't tell I, tell he! ("Don't tell me, tell him!"). In most Germanic languages (and it is most noticeable in Icelandic) it is nominative pronouns (I, he, she) which follow the verb to be, EG: It is I, It is he, These are they and not It is me, It is him, These are them. However in casual Standard English the objective case is now used. In West Country dialect however, many other verbs can take the nominative case.
• West Country accents also share certain characteristics with those of other isolated rural areas where Standard English has been slow to influence the speech of most people, for example in parts of East Anglia final "r"s are still pronounced and long "a"s retain the [æ:] pronunciation.
There is a popular prejudice that stereotypes speakers as unsophisticated and even backward, due possibly to the deliberate and lengthened nature of the accent. This can work to the West Country speaker's advantage, however: recent studies of how trustworthy Britons find their fellows based on their regional accents put the West Country accent high up, under southern Scottish English but a long way above Cockney and Scouse. Presumably this is premised upon the perception that farmers are people of the soil, and hence more honest compared with city dwellers, or that slow speech means slow thought, hence more incapable of guile.
The West Country accent is probably most identified in American English as "pirate speech" — cartoon-like "Ooh arr, me 'earties! Sploice the mainbrace!" talk is very similar. This may be a result of the strong seafaring and fisherman tradition of the West Country, both legal and outlaw. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) was a native of Bristol, and privateer and English hero Sir Francis Drake hailed from Tavistock in Devon. Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Pirates of Penzance may also have added to the association. It has also been suggested that Westcountryman Robert Newton's performance 1950 Disney film Treasure Island may have influenced people's preconceptions of what accent a pirate "should" have[2].
[edit] Additional selected vocabulary
Some of these terms are obsolete, but some are in current use.
• "Acker" (North Somerset) — friend
• "Allernbatch" (Devon) — old sore
• "Anywhen" — At any time
• "Babbie" (North Somerset) — baby
• "Batch" (North Somerset) — hill - used in place names, e.g. the Vern Batch
• "Beast" (North Somerset) — animal, particularly cattle
• "Benny" (Bristol) — to lose your temper (from a character in Crossroads)
• "Beamer" (Bristol)— to go red in the face with embarrassment.
• "Bide" (North Somerset) — stay, e.g. "Let un bide!" = let him be!
• "Blad" (Bristol) — idiot
• "Blether" (Dorset) — bleat (also used in Lowland Scots)
• "Bulling" (North Somerset) — mounting (cows mounting each other when ready for mating)
• "Chamming" (North Somerset) — chewing, chomping
• "Chuggy peg" (North Somerset) — antirrhinum, snapdragon
• "Chump" (North Somerset) — log (for the fire)
• "Chuting" (North Somerset) — (pronounced "shooting") guttering
• "Comical" (North Somerset) — peculiar, e.g. "'e was proper comical"
• "Coupie" (North Somerset) — crouch, as in the phrase "coupie down"
• "Crowst" (Cornwall) — a picnic lunch, crib
• "Cuss" (North Somerset) — swear
• "Cuzzel" (Cornwall) — soft
• "Daddy granfer" (North Somerset) — woodlouse
• "Dap" (Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire) — a plimsoll shoe, also (North Somerset) to bounce, as of a skittle ball, adjective "dappy"
• "Doattie" (Devon) — nod off
• "Doughboy" (North Somerset) — dumpling
• "Dreckly" — Directly, often used to mean "I'll do it soon" for example "I'll do it dreckly"
• "Emmet" (Cornwall and North Somerset) — tourist or visitor (derogatory)
• "Et" (North Somerset) — that, e.g. "Giss et peak" (Give me that pitchfork)
• "Gurt" (Bristol) — large or very (large). Probable variation of "Great", as in "You gurt fool".
• "Gleanie" (North Somerset) — guinea fowl
• "Gockey" (Cornwall) — idiot
• "Grampie" (North Somerset) — grandfather
• "Grockle" (Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire) — tourist or visitor (derogatory)
• "Ground (plural grounds)" (North Somerset) — field, e.g. "'E bought five grounds off Joe Smith"
• "Haling" (North Somerset) — coughing
• "Hilts and gilts" (North Somerset) — female and male piglets, respectively.
• "Hinkypunk" — Will o' the wisp
• "Huppenstop" (North Somerset) — raised stone platform where milk churns are left for collection - no longer used but many still exist outside farms.
• "In pig" (North Somerset) — (of a pig) pregnant
• "Janner" (Devon, esp. Plymouth) — a term with various meanings, normally associated with Devon, and so called Chav culture. (In Wiltshire, a similar word ' jidder ' has similar meaning - possible relation to 'gypsy').
• "Jasper" - a North Devon word for wasp.
• "Keendle teening" (Cornwall) — candle lighting
• "Kimberlin" (Portland) — someone from Weymouth
• "Love", "My Love", "Luvver" — terms of endearment. Even used by heterosexual men to one another.
• "Ling" (Cornwall)— to throw Ling 'ee 'ere - Throw it here
• "Maggoty" (Dorset) — fanciful
• "Mang" (Devon) — to mix
• "Mow" (North Somerset) — (hay) rick
• "Ooh Arr" (Devon) — multiple meanings, including "Oh Yes". Popularised by the Wurzels, this phrase has become stereotypical, and is used often to mock speakers of West Country dialects.
• "Paunch or punch" (North Somerset) — gut (vb.)
• "Peak" (North Somerset) — pitchfork
• "Pick" (North Somerset) — pluck (a bird for the table)
• "Piggy widden" (Cornwall) — phrase used to calm babies
• "Pitch" (North Somerset) — to settle, e.g. snow
• "Plimmed, -ing up" (North Somerset) — swollen, swelling
• "Poached, -ing up" (North Somerset but also recently heard on The Archers) — cutting up, of a field, as in "the ground's poaching up ,we'll have to bring the cattle indoors for the winter".
• "Pummy" (Dorset) — Apple pumace from the cider-wring (either from "pumace" or French "pomme" meaning apple)
• "Rainin' pourin'" (North Somerset) — raining very hard - said as if one word ("It's rainin-pourin")
• "Scag" (North Somerset) — to tear or catch (“I've scagged my jeans on some barbed wire.”)
• "Scrage" — a scratch or scrape usually on a limb BBC Voices Project
• "Slit pigs" (North Somerset) — male piglets that have been castrated
• "Snags" (Dorset) — sloes, word is used in other English dialects to refer to thorns.
• "Somewhen" (Isle of Wight, Wiltshire) — At some time (still very commonly used)
• "Stick" (North Somerset) — firewood ("We need more stick" - not sticks)
• "Thic" (North Somerset) — that - said knowingly, i.e. to be make dialect deliberately stronger. E.g. "Get in thic bed!"
• "Up country" (North Somerset) — geographically beyond Somerset ("'E lives up country somewhere")
• "Wazzock" (Wiltshire) — idiot
• "Zat" (Devon) — soft
[edit] Social Stigma and Future of West Country Dialect
Owing to the West Country's agricultural history, the sound of the West Country accent has for centuries been associated with farming and, as an effect, with lack of education and rustic simplicity. This can be seen in literature as early as the 18th Century in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals, set in the Somerset city of Bath.
As more and more of the British population moved into towns and cities during the 20th Century, non-regional, Standard English accents increasingly became a marker of personal social mobility. Most recently of all, a national obsession with "Chavs" has harmed the reputation of regional urban accents via a well-known, vile character in the popular British comedy series Little Britain, Vicky Pollard, who speaks with a broad Bristolian accent.
As is the case with all of Britain's regional accents and dialects, increased mobility and communication during the last century seem to have strengthened the influence of Standard English throughout Britain, particularly amongst the younger generations. The BBC Voices series also found that many people throughout Britain felt that this was leading to a "dilution" or even loss of regional accents and dialects. In the case of the West Country however, it seems that also social stigma has for a long time contributed to this process.
American English
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For other uses, see American English (disambiguation).
English language prevalence in the United States. The deeper the shade of blue, the higher the percentage of English speakers in the state.
American English (AmE, AE), also known as United States English or U.S. English is a dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. It is estimated that approximately two thirds of native speakers of English live in the United States.[1]
The use of English in the United States has been inherited from British colonization. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America in the 17th century. During that time, there were also speakers in North America of Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Finnish, as well as numerous Native American languages.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
• 2 Differences between British English and American English
• 3 Vocabulary
o 3.1 Creation of an American lexicon
o 3.2 Morphology
o 3.3 English words that survived in the United States
• 4 Regional differences
• 5 See also
• 6 Further reading
• 7 Sources
• 8 Notes
• 9 External links
[edit] Phonology
Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.
In many ways, compared to British English, American English is conservative in its phonology. Dialects in North America are most distinctive on the East Coast of the continent partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of British English at a time when those varieties were undergoing changes[citation needed]. Also, many speech communities on the East Coast have existed in their present locations longer than others. The interior of the United States, however, was settled by people from all regions of the existing U.S. and, as such, developed a far more generic linguistic pattern.
The red areas are those where non-rhotic pronunciations are found among some white people in the United States. AAVE-influenced non-rhotic pronunciations may be found among black people throughout the country.[2]
Most North American speech is rhotic, as English was in most places in the 17th century. Rhoticity was further supported by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English. In most varieties of North American English, the sound corresponding to the letter "R" is a retroflex or alveolar approximant rather than a trill or a tap. The loss of syllable-final r in North America is confined mostly to the accents of eastern New England, New York City and surrounding areas, South Philadelphia, and the coastal portions of the South. Dropping of syllable-final r sometimes happens in natively rhotic dialects if r is located in unaccented syllables or words and the next syllable or word begins in a consonant. In England, lost 'r' was often changed into [ə] (schwa), giving rise to a new class of falling diphthongs. Furthermore, the 'er' sound of fur or butter, is realized in American English as a monophthongal r-colored vowel (stressed [ɝ] or unstressed [ɚ] as represented in the IPA). This does not happen in the non-rhotic varieties of North American speech.
Some other British English changes in which most North American dialects do not participate:
• The shift of /æ/ to /ɑ/ (the so-called "broad A") before /f/, /s/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /v/ alone or preceded by a homorganic nasal. This is the difference between the British Received Pronunciation and American pronunciation of bath and dance. In the United States, only eastern New England speakers took up this innovation, although even there it is becoming increasingly rare.
• The realization of intervocalic /t/ as a glottal stop [ʔ] ( as in [bɒʔəl] for bottle). This change is not universal for British English and is not considered to be a feature of Received Pronunciation). This is not a property of most North American dialects. Newfoundland English is a notable exception.
On the other hand, North American English has undergone some sound changes not found in Britain, especially not in standard varieties. Many of these are instances of phonemic differentiation and include:
• The merger of [ɑ] and [ɒ], making father and bother rhyme. This change is nearly universal in North American English, occurring almost everywhere except for parts of eastern New England, hence the Boston accent.
• The replacement of the lot vowel with the strut vowel in most utterances of the words was, of, from, what, everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody, because, and in some dialects want.
• The merger of [ɒ] and [ɔ]. This is the so-called cot-caught merger, where cot and caught are homophones. This change has occurred in eastern New England, in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, and from the Great Plains westward.
• For speakers who do not merge caught and cot: The replacement of the cot vowel with the caught vowel before voiceless fricatives (as in cloth, off) (which is found in some old-fashioned varieties of RP), as well as before /ŋ/ (as in strong, long), usually in gone, often in on, and irregularly before /g/ (log, hog, dog, fog) (which is not found in British English at all).
• Vowel merger before intervocalic /r/. Which vowels are affected varies between dialects. One such change is the laxing of /e/, /i/ and /u/ to /ɛ/, /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ before /ɹ/, causing pronunciations like [pɛɹ], [pɪɹ] and [pjʊɹ] for pair, peer and pure. The resulting sound [ʊɹ] is often further reduced to [ɝ], especially after palatals, so that cure, pure, mature and sure rhyme with fir.
• Dropping of [j] after alveolar consonants so that new, duke, Tuesday, suit, resume, lute are pronounced /nuː/, /duːk/, /tuːzdeɪ/, /suːt/, /ɹɪzuːm/, /luːt/.
• æ-tensing in environments that vary widely from accent to accent; for example, for many speakers, /æ/ is approximately realized as [eə] before nasal consonants. In some accents, particularly those from Philadelphia to New York City, [æ] and [eə] can even contrast sometimes, as in Yes, I can [kæn] vs. tin can [keən].
• The flapping of intervocalic /t/ and /d/ to alveolar tap [ɾ] before reduced vowels. Thus, for most speakers, pairs such as ladder/latter, metal/medal, and coating/coding are pronounced the same. For many speakers, this merger is incomplete and does not occur after /aɪ/; these speakers tend to pronounce writer with [əɪ] and rider with [aɪ]. This is a form of Canadian raising but, unlike more extreme forms of that process, does not affect /aʊ/.
• Both intervocalic /nt/ and /n/ may be realized as [n] or [ɾ̃], making winter and winner homophones. This does not occur when the second syllable is stressed, as in entail.
• The pin-pen merger, by which [ɛ] is raised to [ɪ] before nasal consonants, making pairs like pen/pin homophonous. This merger originated in Southern American English but is now found in parts of the Midwest and West as well.
Some mergers found in most varieties of both American and British English include:
• The merger of the vowels /ɔ/ and /o/ before 'r', making pairs like horse/hoarse, corps/core, for/four, morning/mourning etc. homophones.
• The wine-whine merger making pairs like wine/whine, wet/whet, Wales/whales, wear/where etc. homophones, in most cases eliminating /ʍ/, the voiceless labiovelar fricative. Many older varieties of southern and western American English still keep these distinct, but the merger appears to be spreading.
[edit] Differences between British English and American English
Main article: American and British English differences
American English has some spelling differences from English as used elsewhere (especially British English), some of which were made as part of an attempt to make more rational[citation needed] the spelling used in Britain at the time. Unlike many 20th century language reforms (for example, Turkey's alphabet shift, Norway's spelling reform) the American spelling changes were not driven by government, but by textbook writers and dictionary makers. Spelling tendencies in Britain from the 17th century until the present day (e.g. -ise for -ize, programme for program, kerb for curb (noun), skilful for skillful, chequered for checkered, etc.), in some cases favored by the francophile tastes of 19th century Victorian England, had little effect on American English.
The first American dictionary was written by Noah Webster in 1828. At the time the United States was a relatively new country and Webster's particular contribution was to show that the region spoke a different dialect from Britain, and so he wrote a dictionary with many spellings differing from the standard. Many of these changes were initiated unilaterally by Webster.
Webster also argued for many "simplifications" to the idiomatic spelling of the period. Many, although not all, of his simplifications fell into common usage alongside the original versions with simple spelling modifications.
Some words with simplified spellings in American English include center, color, and maneuver, which are spelled centre, colour, and manoeuvre in other forms of English.
American English also has many lexical differences from British English (BrE). American English sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas British English uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where the British form is a back-formation, such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar).
[edit] Vocabulary
North America has given the English lexicon many thousands of words, meanings, and phrases. Several thousand are now used in English as spoken internationally; others, however, died within a few years of their creation.
[edit] Creation of an American lexicon
The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as the colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from the Native American languages. Examples of such names are opossum, raccoon, squash, and moose (from Algonquian). Other Native American loanwords, such as wigwam or moccasin, describe artificial objects in common use among Native Americans. The languages of the other colonizing nations also added to the American vocabulary; for instance, cookie, cruller, and pit (of a fruit) from Dutch; levee, portage "carrying of boats or goods," and (probably) gopher from French; barbecue, stevedore from Spanish.
Among the earliest and most notable regular "English" additions to the American vocabulary, dating from the early days of colonization through the early 19th century, are terms describing the features of the North American landscape; for instance, run, branch, fork, snag, bluff, gulch, neck (of the woods), barrens, bottomland, notch, knob, riffle, rapids, watergap, cutoff, trail, timberline, and divide. Already existing words such as creek, slough, sleet, and (in later use) watershed, received new meanings that were unknown in England. Other noteworthy American toponyms are found among loanwords; for example, prairie, butte (French); bayou (Louisiana French); coulee (Canadian French, but used also in Louisiana with a different meaning); canyon, mesa, arroyo (Spanish); vlei, kill (Dutch, Hudson Valley).
The word corn, used in England to refer to wheat (or any cereal), came to denote the plant Zea mays, the most important crop in the U.S., originally named Indian corn by the earliest settlers; wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc. came to be collectively referred to as grain (or breadstuffs). Other notable farm related vocabulary additions were the new meanings assumed by barn (not only a building for hay and grain storage, but also for housing livestock) and team (not just the horses, but also the vehicle along with them), as well as, in various periods, the terms range, (corn) crib, truck, elevator, sharecropping, and feedlot.
Ranch, later applied to a house style, derives from Mexican Spanish; most Spanish contributions came indeed after the War of 1812, with the opening of the West. Among these are, other than toponyms, chaps (from chaparreras), plaza, lasso, bronco, buckaroo; examples of "English" additions from the cowboy era are bad man, maverick, chuck "food," and Boot Hill; from the California Gold Rush came such idioms as hit pay dirt or strike it rich. The word blizzard probably originated in the West.
A couple of notable late 18th century additions are the verb belittle and the noun bid, both first used in writing by Thomas Jefferson.
With the new continent developed new forms of dwelling, and hence a large inventory of words designating real estate concepts (land office, lot, outlands, waterfront, the verbs locate and relocate, betterment, addition, subdivision), types of property (log cabin, adobe in the 18th century; frame house, apartment, tenement house, shack, shanty in the 19th century; project, condominium, townhouse, split-level, mobile home, multi-family in the 20th century), and parts thereof (driveway, breezeway, backyard, dooryard; clapboard, siding, trim, baseboard; stoop (from Dutch), family room, den; and, in recent years, HVAC, central air, walkout basement).
Ever since the American Revolution, a great number of terms connected with the U.S. political institutions have entered the language; examples are run, gubernatorial, primary election, carpetbagger (after the Civil War), repeater, lame duck, and pork barrel. Some of these are internationally used (e.g. caucus, gerrymander, filibuster, exit poll).
The rise of capitalism, the development of industry, and material innovations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries were the source of a massive stock of distinctive new words, phrases, and idioms. Typical examples are the vocabulary of railroading (see further at rail terminology) and transportation terminology, ranging from names of roads (from dirt roads and back roads to freeways and parkways) to road infrastructure (parking lot, overpass, rest area), and from automotive terminology to public transit (e.g. in the sentence "riding the subway downtown"); such American introductions as commuter (from commutation ticket), concourse, to board (a vehicle), to park, double-park, and parallel park (a car), double decker, or the noun terminal have long been used in all dialects of English.[3] Trades of various kinds have endowed (American) English with household words describing jobs and occupations (bartender, longshoreman, patrolman, hobo, bouncer, bellhop, roustabout, white collar, blue collar, employee, boss (from Dutch), intern, busboy, mortician, senior citizen), businesses and workplaces (department store, supermarket, thrift store, gift shop, drugstore, motel, main street, gas station, hardware store, savings and loan, hock (also from Dutch)), as well as general concepts and innovations (automated teller machine, smart card, cash register, dishwasher, reservation (as at hotels), pay envelope, movie, mileage, shortage, outage, blood bank). Already existing English words—such as store, shop, dry goods, haberdashery, lumber—underwent shifts in meaning; some—such as mason, student, clerk, the verbs can (as in "canned goods"), ship, fix, carry, enroll (as in school), run (as in "run a business"), release, and haul—were given new significations, while others (such as tradesman) have retained meanings that disappeared in England. From the world of business and finance came breakeven, merger, delisting, downsize, disintermediation, bottom line; from sports terminology came, jargon aside, Monday-morning quarterback, cheap shot, game plan (football); in the ballpark, out of left field, off base, hit and run, and many other idioms from baseball; gamblers coined bluff, blue chip, ante, bottom dollar, raw deal, pass the buck, ace in the hole, freeze-out, showdown; miners coined bedrock, bonanza, peter out, and the verb prospect from the noun; and railroadmen are to be credited with make the grade, sidetrack, head-on, and the verb railroad. A number of Americanisms describing material innovations remained largely confined to North America: elevator, ground, gasoline; many automotive terms fall in this category, although many do not (hatchback, SUV, station wagon, tailgate, motorhome, truck, pickup truck, to exhaust).
In addition to the above-mentioned loans from French, Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Dutch, and Native American languages, other accretions from foreign languages came with 19th and early 20th century immigration; notably, from Yiddish (chutzpah, schmooze, and such idioms as need something like a hole in the head) and German—hamburger and culinary terms like frankfurter/franks, liverwurst, sauerkraut, wiener, deli(catessen); scram, kindergarten, gesundheit;[4] musical terminology (whole note, half note, etc.); and apparently cookbook, fresh "impudent," and what gives?.
Finally, a large number of common English colloquialisms from various periods are American in origin (OK, cool, darn, gnarly, hot, lame, doing great, hang (out), no-brainer, hip, fifty-fifty, gross, doofus, diddly-squat, screw up, fool around, nerd, jerk, nuke, nutball, 24/7, heads-up, thusly, way back), and so are many other English idioms (get the hang of, take for a ride, bark up the wrong tree, keep tabs, run scared, take a backseat, have an edge over, stake a claim, take a shine to, in on the ground floor, bite off more than one can chew, off/on the wagon, for the birds, stay put, inside track, stiff upper lip, bad hair day, throw a monkey wrench, give the hairy eyeball, under the weather, jump bail, come clean, come again?, will the real x please stand up?); some English words now in general use, such as hijacking, disc jockey, boost, bulldoze, and jazz, originated as American slang.
[edit] Morphology
With respect to morphology, American English has always shown a marked tendency to use substantives as verbs and form compound words. Examples of verbed nouns are interview, advocate, vacuum, lobby, expense, room, pressure, rear-end, transition, feature, profile, buffalo, weasel, express (mail), belly-ache, spearhead, skyrocket, showcase, merchandise, service (as a car), corner, torch, exit (as in "exit a place"), factor (in mathematics), gun "shoot," author (which disappeared in English around 1630 and was revived in the U.S. three centuries later) and, out of American material, proposition, graft (bribery), bad-mouth, vacation, major, backpack, backtrack, intern, ticket (traffic violations), hassle, blacktop, peer-review, dope, and OD. Compounds coined in the U.S. are for instance foothill, flatlands, badlands, landslide (in all senses), overview (the noun), backdrop, teenager, brainstorm, bandwagon, hitchhike, smalltime, deadbeat, frontman, lowbrow and highbrow, hell-bent, foolproof, nitpick, about-face (later verbed), upfront (in all senses), fixer-upper, no-show; many of these are phrases used as adverbs or (often) hyphenated attributive adjectives: non-profit, for-profit, free-for-all, ready-to-wear, catchall, low-down, down-and-out, down and dirty, in-your-face, nip and tuck; many compound nouns and adjectives are open: happy hour, fall guy, capital gain, road trip, wheat pit, head start, plea bargain; some of these are colorful (empty nester, loan shark, ambulance chaser, buzz saw, ghetto blaster, dust bunny), others are euphemistic (differently abled, human resources, physically challenged, affirmative action, correctional facility). Many compound nouns have the form verb plus preposition: add-on, stopover, lineup, shakedown, tryout, spinoff, rundown "summary," shootout, holdup, hideout, comeback, cookout, kickback, makeover, takeover, rollback "decrease," rip-off, come-on, shoo-in, fix-up, tie-in, tie-up "stoppage," stand-in. These essentially are nouned phrasal verbs; some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin (spell out, figure out, hold up, brace up, size up, rope in, back up/off/down/out, step down, miss out on, kick around, cash in, rain out, check in and check out (in all senses), fill in "inform," kick in "contribute," square off, sock in, sock away, factor in/out, come down with, give up on, lay off (from employment), run into and across "meet," stop by, pass up, put up (money), set up "frame," trade in, pick up on, pick up after, lose out.[5] Some verbs ending in -ize are of U.S. origin; for example, fetishize, prioritize, burglarize, accessorize, itemize, editorialize, customize, notarize, weatherize, winterize, Mirandize; and so are some back-formations (locate, fine-tune, evolute, curate, donate, emote, upholster, and enthuse). Among syntactical constructions that arose in the U.S. are as of, outside of, headed for, meet up with, back of, convince someone to..., not to be about to, and lack for.
Americanisms formed by alteration of existing words include notably pesky (from pest), phony (from earlier fawney), rambunctious (from rumbustious), pry (as in "pry open," from prize), putter (verb, from potter), buddy, sundae (from Sunday), skeeter (from mosquito), and kitty-corner (from earlier cater "four"). Adjectives that arose in the U.S. are for example lengthy, bossy, cute and cutesy, grounded (of a child), punk (in all senses), sticky (of the weather), through (as in "through train," or meaning "finished"), and many colloquial forms such as peppy or wacky. American blends include motel, guesstimate, infomercial, and televangelist.
[edit] English words that survived in the United States
A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English or Early Modern English and that always have been in everyday use in the United States dropped out in most varieties of British English; some of these have cognates in Lowland Scots. Terms such as fall ("autumn"), pavement ("road surface"), faucet, diaper, candy, skillet, eyeglasses, crib (for a baby), gotten (past participle of get), obligate, and raise a child are often regarded as Americanisms. Other words and meanings, to various extents, were brought back to Britain, especially in the second half of the 20th century; these include hire ("to employ"), quit ("to stop," which spawned quitter in the U.S.), I guess (famously criticized by H. W. Fowler), baggage, hit (a place), and the adverbs overly and presently ("currently"). Some of these, for example monkey wrench and wastebasket, originated in 19th-century Britain.
The mandative subjunctive (as in "the City Attorney suggested that the case not be closed") is livelier in American English than it is in British English; it appears in some areas as a spoken usage, and is considered obligatory in more formal contexts.
The adjectives mad meaning "angry," smart meaning "intelligent," and sick meaning "ill" are also more frequent in American than British English.[6]
[edit] Regional differences
Main article: American English regional differences
Main article: Regional vocabularies of American English
While written American English is standardized across the country, there are several recognizable variations in the spoken language, both in pronunciation and in vernacular vocabulary. General American is the name given to any American accent that is relatively free of noticeable regional influences. It is not a standard accent in the way that Received Pronunciation is in England.
After the Civil War, the settlement of the western territories by migrants from the Eastern U.S. led to dialect mixing and leveling, so that regional dialects are most strongly differentiated along the Eastern seaboard. The Connecticut River and Long Island Sound is usually regarded as the southern/western extent of New England speech, which has its roots in the speech of the Puritans from East Anglia who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Potomac River generally divides a group of Northern coastal dialects from the beginning of the Coastal Southern dialect area; in between these two rivers several local variations exist, chief among them the one that prevails in and around New York City and northern New Jersey, which developed on a Dutch substratum after the British conquered New Amsterdam. The main features of Coastal Southern speech can be traced to the speech of the English from the West Country who settled in Virginia after leaving England at the time of the English Civil War, and to the African influences from the African Americans who were enslaved in the South.
Although no longer region-specific[citation needed], African American Vernacular English, which remains prevalent amongst African Americans, has a close relationship to Southern varieties of American English and has greatly influenced everyday speech of many Americans.
A distinctive speech pattern was also generated by the separation of Canada from the United States, centered on the Great Lakes region. This is the "Inland North" dialect—the "standard Midwestern" speech that was the basis for General American in the mid-20th Century (although it has been recently modified by the northern cities vowel shift). Those not from this area frequently confuse it with the North Midland dialect treated below, referring to both collectively as "Midwestern."
In the interior, the situation is very different. West of the Appalachian Mountains begins the broad zone of what is generally called "Midland" speech. This is divided into two discrete subdivisions, the North Midland that begins north of the Ohio River valley area, and the South Midland speech; sometimes the former is designated simply "Midland" and the latter is reckoned as "Highland Southern." The North Midland speech continues to expand westward until it becomes the closely related Western dialect which contains Pacific Northwest English as well as the well-known California English, although in the immediate San Francisco area some older speakers do not possess the cot-caught merger and thus retain the distinction between words such as cot and caught which reflects a historical Mid-Atlantic heritage. Mormon and Mexican settlers in the West influenced the development of Utah English.
The South Midland or Highland Southern dialect follows the Ohio River in a generally southwesterly direction, moves across Arkansas and Oklahoma west of the Mississippi, and peters out in West Texas. It is a version of the Midland speech that has assimilated some coastal Southern forms (outsiders often mistakenly believe South Midland speech and coastal South speech to be the same).
The island state of Hawaii has a distinctive Hawaiian Pidgin.
Finally, dialect development in the United States has been notably influenced by the distinctive speech of such important cultural centers as Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Charleston, New Orleans, and Detroit, which imposed their marks on the surrounding areas.
African American Vernacular English
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African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called African American English, Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black Vernacular English (BVE), or (sometimes pejoratively) "Jive", is a variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language. It is also known colloquially as Ebonics. Its pronunciation in some respects is common to Southern American English, which is spoken by many African Americans in the United States and by many non-African Americans. AAVE shares many characteristics with various Creole English dialects spoken by black people in much of the world. AAVE also has pronunciation, grammatical structures, and vocabulary in common with various West African languages. Speakers of AAVE are often bidialectal and, like any form of language, age, status, topic, and setting influence the use of AAVE. For example, research has found that AAVE is used more often when discussing abstract concepts, such as feelings, and when speaking to members of one's own peer group.[citation needed]
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Overview
• 2 Grammatical features
o 2.1 Phonology
o 2.2 Aspect marking
2.2.1 Remote Phase Marker
o 2.3 Negation
o 2.4 Other grammatical characteristics
• 3 Lexical features
• 4 Social context
o 4.1 Origins
o 4.2 AAVE in Education
• 5 See also
• 6 Notes
• 7 References
• 8 External links
[edit] Overview
About "80 to 90 percent of American blacks” speak AAVE “at least some of the time".[1] Additionally, AAVE shares many characteristics with various Creole English dialects spoken by black people throughout much of the world. AAVE also has pronunciation, grammatical structures, and vocabulary in common with various West African languages (Trudgill).
The pronunciation of AAVE is based in large part on Southern American English, an influence that no doubt was reciprocal in many ways. The traits of AAVE that separate it from Standard American English (SAE) include:
• changes in pronunciation along definable patterns, many of which are found in creoles and dialects of other populations of West African descent (but which also emerge in English dialects uninfluenced by West African languages, such as Newfoundland English);
• distinctive vocabulary; and
• differences in the use of tenses.
AAVE also has contributed to Standard American English words of African origin ("gumbo", "goober", "yam", "banjo") and slang expressions ("cool," "hip," "hep cat" "bling"). In areas of close socialization between speakers of AAVE and other groups of people, a greater number of non-black speakers exist.
[edit] Grammatical features
[edit] Phonology
The uniformity of AAVE pronunciation, despite vast geographic area, may be due in part to relatively recent migrations of African Americans out of the south as well as to long-term racial segregation. Phonological features that set AAVE apart from forms of "Standard English" (such as General American) include:
• Word-final devoicing of /b/, /d/ and /g/ sounds, whereby for example cab sounds like cup.[2]
• Reduction of certain diphthong forms to monophthongs, in particular, /aɪ/ is monophthongized to [aː] (this is also a feature of many Southern American English dialects).
• AAVE speakers may use alternatives in what in SE are contexts for dental fricatives [θ] (the th in thin) and [ð] (the th of then). This depends on the sound's position in a word.[3]
o Word-initially, /θ/ is normally as in SE (so "thin" is [θɪn]).
o Word-initially, /ð/ is [d] (so "this" is [dɪs]).
o Word-medially and -finally, /θ/ is realized as either [f] or [t] (so [mʌnf] or [mʌnt] for "month"); /ð/ as either [v] or [d] (so [smuːv] for "smoothe").
• AAVE is non-rhotic, so the rhotic consonant /r/ is usually dropped if not followed by a vowel. Intervocalic /r/ may also be dropped, e.g. SE story ([stɔri]) can be pronounced [stɔ.i].
• Realization of final ng /ŋ/, the velar nasal, as the alveolar nasal [n] in function morphemes and content morphemes with two syllables like -ing, e.g. "tripping" is pronounced as "trippin." This change does not occur in one-syllable content morphemes such as sing, which is [sɪŋ] and not sin [sɪn]. However, singing is [sɪŋɪn]. Other examples include wedding → [wɛɾɪn], morning → [mɔɹnɪn], nothing → [ˈnʌfɪn]. Realization of /ŋ/ as [n] in these contexts is commonly found in many other English dialects.[4]
• More generally, reduction of vocally homorganic final consonant clusters (that is, clusters of consonants that have the same place of articulation) that share the same laryngeal settings. E.g. test is pronounced [tɛs] since /t/ and /s/ are both voiceless; hand is pronounced [hæn], since /n/ and /d/ are both voiced; but pant is unchanged, as it contains both a voiced and a voiceless consonant in the cluster (Rickford, 1997). Note also that it is the plosive (/t/ and /d/) in these examples that is lost rather than the fricative or nasal. Speakers may carry this declustered pronunciation when pluralizing so that the plural of test is [tɛsəs] rather than [tɛsts].[5]
• /l/ is often deleted after a vowel and, in combination with the above feature, can make bold, bowl, and bow homophones.
• Before nasal consonants (/m/, /n/, and /ŋ/), /ɛ/ and /ɪ/ are both pronounced as [ɪ], making pen and pin homophones.
• Before /l/, /ɪ/ and /iː/ are pronounced as /ɪ/, making feel and fill homophones.
• After a vowel, a nasal may be lost while nasalization of the vowel is retained. E.g, find may be pronounced [fã].
• Dropping of word initial /d/, /b/, and /g/ in tense-aspect markers, e.g., the pronunciation of don't like own.
• Lowering of /ɪ/ to /ɛ/ or /æ/ before /ŋ/ causing pronunciations such as [tɛŋ] or [tæŋ] for thing.
• Use of metathesised forms like "aks" for "ask"[6] or "graps" for "grasp." Both these examples existed in Anglo-Saxon and more recent varieties of English, and may be survivals of non-standard forms.
[edit] Aspect marking
The most distinguishing feature of AAVE is the use of forms of be to mark aspect in verb phrases. The use or lack of a form of be can indicate whether the performance of the verb is of a habitual nature. In SAE, this can be expressed only using adverbs such as usually.[7] It is disputed whether the use of the verb "to be" to indicate a habitual status or action in AAVE has its roots in various West African languages.
Example Name SE Meaning / Notes
He workin'. Simple progressive He is working [right now].
He be workin'. Habitual/continuative aspect He works frequently or habitually. Better illustrated with "He be workin' Tuesdays all month."
He be steady workin'. Intensified continuative He is always working.
He been workin'. Perfect progressive He has been working.
He been had that job. Remote phase (see below)
He has had that job for a long time and still has it.
He done worked. Emphasized perfective He has worked. Syntactically, "He worked" is valid, but "done" is used to emphasize the completed nature of the action.[8]
He finna go to work. Immediate future He's about to go to work. Finna is a contraction of "fixing to"; though is also believed to show residual influence of late 16th century archaism "would fain (to)", that persisted until later in some rural dialects spoken in the Carolinas (near the Gullah region). "Fittin' to" is commonly thought to be another form of the original "fixin' (fixing) to", and it is also heard as fitna and fixna.[9]
I was walkin' home, and I had worked all day. Preterite narration.
"Had" is used to begin a preterite narration. Usually it occurs in the first clause of the narration, and nowhere else.
[edit] Remote Phase Marker
The aspect marked by stressed 'been' has been given many names, including Perfect Phase, Remote Past, Remote Phase (Fickett 1970, Fasold and Wolfram 1970, Rickford 1999). This article uses the third. Been here is stressed; in order to distinguish it from unstressed been (used as in standard English), linguists often write it as BIN. Thus the distinction between She BIN running ("She has been running for a long time") and She been running ("She has been running").[10]
With non-stative verbs, the role of been is simple: it places the action in the distant past, or represents total completion of the action. A Standard English equivalent is to add "a long time ago". For example, She been told me that translates as, "She told me that a long time ago".
However, when been is used with stative verbs or gerund forms, been shows that the action began in the distant past and that it is continuing now. Linguist John R. Rickford (1999) suggests that a better translation when used with stative verbs is "for a long time". For instance, in response to "I like your new dress", one might hear Oh, I been had this dress, meaning that the speaker has had the dress for a long time and that it isn't new.
To see the difference between the simple past and the gerund when used with been, consider the utterances:
I been bought her clothes means "I bought her clothes a long time ago".
I been buyin' her clothes means "I've been buying her clothes for a long time".
[edit] Negation
In addition, negatives are formed differently from standard American English:
• Use of ain't as a general negative indicator. It can be used where Standard English would use am not, isn't, aren't, haven't and "hasn't", a trait which is not specific to AAVE. However, in marked contrast to other varieties of English in the U.S., some varieties of AAVE also use ain't in lieu of don't, doesn't, or didn't (e.g., I ain't know that).
• Negative concord, popularly called "double negation", as in I didn't go nowhere. If the sentence is negative, all negatable forms are negated. This is usually stigmatized in Standard English, where a double negative is considered a positive (although this wasn't always so; see double negative).
• In a negative construction, an indefinite pronoun such as nobody or nothing can be inverted with the negative verb particle for emphasis (eg. Don't nobody know the answer, Ain't nothin' goin' on.)
[edit] Other grammatical characteristics
Some of these characteristics, notably double negatives and the use of been for "has been", are also characteristic of general colloquial American English.
Linguist William Labov carried out and published the first thorough grammatical study of African American Vernacular English in 1965.
• The copula BE is often dropped, as in Russian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Arabic and other languages. For example: You crazy! ("You're crazy") or She my sister ("She's my sister"). The phenomenon is also observed in questions: Who you? ("Who're you?") and Where you at? ("Where're you at?"). When BE cannot be contracted in SE, then it cannot be dropped in AAVE – *I don't know where he (*"I don't know where he's") – but other rules also apply: seven conditions must be met, and there are other complications.[11]
• Present-tense verbs are uninflected for number/person: there is no -s ending in the present-tense third-person singular. Example: She write poetry ("She writes poetry"). Similarly, was is used for what in standard English are contexts for both was and were.[12]
• The -s ending may or may not be used.[13] The genitive relies on adjacency. This is similar to many creoles throughout the Caribbean. Many language forms throughout the world use an unmarked possessive; it may, here, result from a simplification of grammatical structures and tendency to eschew particle usage. Example: my momma sister ("my momma's sister")
• The word it or iss denotes the existence of something, equivalent to Standard English there in "there is", or "there are". This usage is also found in the English of the US South. Examples Iss a doughnut in the cabinet ("There's a doughnut in the cabinet") and It ain't no spoon ("There isn't a spoon", also "Dey ain't no spoon").
• Altered syntax in questions: She actin' all hankty (snobbish). Who duh hell she think she be? ("She's acting like a snob. Who the hell does she think she is?"). Note also the use of "all" as an adverb of manner or degree, as well as the omission of the dummy verb "do" (does). How you tol' him I'm try'na see her? ("Why did you tell him I want to see her?"). Normal clause inversion of the past tense verb in forming questions is not practiced.
• Use of say to introduce quotations, actual or otherwise. For example, "I thought, say, 'Why don't he just rap wit' her?'" (I thought, 'Why doesn't he just speak with her?'") Say is also used to introduce sounds where a SAE speaker might use go: He say, boom! ("It went, boom!").
[edit] Lexical features
For the most part, AAVE uses the lexicon of SAE, particularly informal and southern dialects. There are some notable differences, however. It has been suggested that some of this vocabulary has its origin in West African languages, but etymology is often difficult to trace and without a trail of recorded usage the suggestions below cannot be considered proven.
• dig from Wolof dëgg or dëgga, meaning "to understand/appreciate"[14]
• jazz[15]
• tote[16]
• bad-mouth, a calque from Mandinka[17]
AAVE also has words that either are not part of Standard American English, or have strikingly different meanings from their common usage in SAE. For example, there are several words in AAVE referring to white people which are not part of mainstream SAE; these include gray, possibly from the color of Confederate uniforms; and paddy, an extension of the slang use for "Irish".[18] "Ofay," which can be pejorative, is another general term for a white; it might derive from the Ibibio word afia, which means "light-colored," and may have referred to European traders[citation needed]; or from the Yoruba word ofe, spoken in hopes of disappearing from danger such as that posed by European traders; or via Pig Latin from "foe".[19] Kitchen refers to the particularly curly or kinky hair at the nape of the neck, and siditty means snobbish or bourgeois.[20]
AAVE has also contributed various words to other varieties of English; these include chill out, main squeeze, soulmate and threads.[21]
[edit] Social context
The “Africanized form” of AAVE and its cultural history serve as a symbol of ethnic identity and pride. AAVE's resistance to assimilation into Standard American English or other more standard dialects is a consequence of cultural differences between blacks and whites (Romaine 109). Any language used by isolated groups of people is likely to split into various dialects. Thus, language becomes a means of self-differentiation that helps forge group identity, solidarity and pride. It is “intricately bound up with his or her sense of identity and group consciousness”.[22]
AAVE has survived and thrived through the centuries also as a result of various degrees of isolation from Southern American English and Standard American English — through both “self-segregation from and marginalization by mainstream society” (Trudgill 108). Still, most speakers of AAVE are bidialectal, since they use Standard American English to varying degrees as well as AAVE. This method of linguistic adaptation in different environments is called code-switching. Each dialect, or code, is applied in different settings. Speakers of both dialects acknowledge when to use which dialect in what environment (Romaine 109). Generally speaking, the degree of exclusive use of AAVE decreases with the rise in socioeconomic status, although almost all speakers of AAVE at all “socioeconomic levels readily understand Standard American English” (Coulmas 41). Many blacks, regardless of socioeconomic status, educational background, or geographic region, use some form of AAVE to various degrees in informal and intra-ethnic communication (Romaine 111). The use of AAVE, as with the use of SAE, can also be a conscious choice. The level of usage of any dialect is subject to the speaker’s volition. In certain situations, speakers of AAVE may deem it more appropriate to use SAE, and in other instances (most likely among other African Americans) use AAVE.
The preponderance of code-switching indicates that AAVE and SAE are met with different reactions or discernments. AAVE is often perceived by members of mainstream American society as indicative of low intelligence or limited education. Furthermore, as with many other non-standard dialects and especially creoles, AAVE sometimes has been called "lazy" or "bad" English, although among linguists there is no such controversy, since AAVE, like all dialects, shows consistent internal logic and structure.[23]Particularly stigmatized forms include metathesis of ask to aks and use of ain't.
[edit] Origins
It is unclear exactly how AAVE relates to other varieties of English. One argument, put forth by Kurath, Labov, and McDavid, is that AAVE is essentially identical to nonstandard varieties of Southern American English. A similar claim is that the speech of blacks in the American South has had a great deal of influence in the speech of non-blacks living there.
Another argument is that AAVE has its deepest roots in the trans-Atlantic African slave trade. Unique patterns of language usage among African slaves arose from the need for African captives to communicate among themselves and with their captors. During the Middle Passage, these captives (many already multi-lingual speakers of dialects of Wolof, Twi, Hausa, Yoruba, Dogon, Akan, Kimbundu, Bambara and other languages) developed what are called pidgins, simplified mixtures of two or more languages. As pidgins form from close-contact between members of different language communities, the slaving trade would be exactly such a situation. Dillard (1972) quotes slave ship Captain William Smith:
As for the languages of Gambia, they are so many and so different, that the Natives, on either Side of the River, cannot understand each other.… [T]he safest Way is to trade with the different Nations, on either Side of the River, and having some of every Sort on board, there will be no more Likelihood of their succeeding in a Plot, than of finishing the Tower of Babel.
Some slave owners preferred slaves from a particular tribe. For consigned cargoes, language mixing aboard ship was sometimes minimal. There is evidence that many enslaved Africans continued to use fairly intact native languages until almost 1700, when Wolof became one of the bases of a sort of intermediary pidgin among Africans. It is Wolof that comes to the fore in tracing the African roots of AAVE. By 1715, this African pidgin had made its way into novels by Daniel Defoe, in particular, The Life of Colonel Jacque. Cotton Mather claimed to have been very familiar with his slaves' speech, knowing enough to affirm that one of his slaves was from the Coromantee tribe. Mather's imitative writing shows features present in many creole languages and even in modern day AAVE.
By the time of the American Revolution, slave creoles had not quite established themselves to the point of mutual intelligibility among varieties. Dillard (1972) quotes a recollection of "slave language" toward the latter part of the 18th century:
Kay, massa, you just leave me, me sit here, great fish jump up into da canoe, here he be, massa, fine fish, massa; me den very grad; den me sit very still, until another great fish jump into de canoe; but me fall asleep, massa, and no wake 'til you come…
It was not until the time of the Civil War that the language of the slaves became familiar to a large number of educated whites. The abolitionist papers before the war form a rich corpus of examples of plantation creole. In Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870), Thomas Wentworth Higginson detailed many features of his soldiers' language. In particular, this book contains the first reference to the distinction within AAVE "been" between stressed BÍN and unstressed bin.
After Emancipation, some freed slaves traveled to West Africa, taking their creole with them. In certain African tribal groups, such as those in west Cameroon, there are varieties of Black English that show strong resemblances to the creole dialects in the U.S. documented during this period. The languages have remained similar due to the homogeneity within tribal groups, and so can act as windows into a past state of Creole English.
[edit] AAVE in Education
AAVE has been the center of controversy on issues regarding the education of African American youths and the role it should play in public schools and education, as well as its place in broader society. Educators have held that attempts should be made to eliminate AAVE usage through the public education system. Criticisms from social commentators and educators have ranged from asserting that AAVE is an intrinsically deficient form of speech[citation needed] to arguments that its use, by being considered unacceptable in most cultural contexts, is socially limiting. It is often argued that incorporating AAVE in schools would only impede the academic progress of young African American children[citation needed]. The strongest criticisms of AAVE have come from other African Americans[24]. Most notably, Bill Cosby, in his Pound Cake speech, criticized members of the African American community for various social behaviors including exclusive use of AAVE[25].
Changes in formal attitudes regarding the acceptance of AAVE as a distinct dialect correlated with advancements in civil rights. One notable shift in the recognition of AAVE came in the "Ann Arbor Decision" of 1979 (Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School Children et al., v. Ann Arbor School District). In it, a federal judge ruled that a school board, in teaching black children to read, must adjust to the children's dialect, not the children to the school.
The formal recognition of AAVE was revisited when a resolution from the Oakland, California school board on December 18, 1996, wanted "Ebonics" officially recognized as a language or dialect. At its last meeting, the outgoing Oakland school board unanimously passed the resolution before stepping down from their positions to the newly elected board consisting of members who held different political views. The new board modified the resolution and then effectively dropped it. Had the measure remained in force, it would have affected funding and education-related issues.
The Oakland resolution declared that AAVE was not English, and was not an Indo-European language at all, asserting that the speech of black children belonged to "West and Niger-Congo African Language Systems" (Coulmas 51). This claim was quickly ruled inconsistent with current linguistic theory, that AAVE is a dialect of English and thus of Indo-European origin. Furthermore, the differences between modern AAVE and Standard English are nowhere near as great as those between French and Haitian Creole, the latter being considered a separate language. The statement that "African Language Systems are genetically based" also contributed to widespread hostility (Coulmas 53). Supporters of the resolution later clarified that "genetically" was not a racial or biological term but a linguistic one (53).
Proponents of AAVE instruction in public education believe that their proposals have been distorted by political debate and misunderstood by the general public. The underlying belief is that black students would perform better in school and more easily learn standard American English if textbooks and teachers acknowledged that AAVE was not a substandard version of standard American English but a legitimate speech variety with its own grammatical rules and pronunciation norms.
For black students whose primary dialect was AAVE, the Oakland resolution mandated some instruction in that dialect, both for "maintaining the legitimacy and richness of such language... and to facilitate their acquisition and mastery of English language skills" (Coulmas 53). Teachers were encouraged to recognize that the "errors" in Standard American English that their students made were not the result of lack of intelligence or effort, and indeed were not errors at all but instead were features of a grammatically distinct form of English (53). Rather than teaching Standard English by proscribing non-standard usage, the idea was to teach Standard American English to Ebonics-speaking students by showing them how to translate expressions from AAVE to Standard American English (53).
Framers of the Oakland resolution recognized that, when teaching anyone a language or variety with which they are unfamiliar, it is important to differentiate between understanding and pronunciation (this consideration appeared in later discussion, not in the resolution itself). For instance, if a child reads "He passed by both of them" as [hiː pæs baː boʊf ə dɪm] (rather than [hiː pæst baɪ boʊθ əv ðɛm]), a teacher must determine whether the child is saying passed or pass, since they are identical in AAVE phonology. Appropriate remedial strategies here would be different from effective strategies for an SAE speaker who interprets "passed" from the word "pass" (Coulmas 54).
Pedagogical techniques similar to those used to teach English to speakers of foreign languages appear to hold promise for speakers of AAVE. Stewart introduced the use of "dialect readers"—sets of text nearer to the child's dialect than SAE text — to AAVE speakers (Trudgill 151). This helps the child focus on translating symbols on paper into words without worrying about learning a new language at the same time. Simpkins, Holt, and Simpkins developed a comprehensive set of dialect readers, called bridge readers, which included the same content in three different dialects: AAVE, a bridge version, which was closer to SAE without being prohibitively formal, and a Standard English version (152). The results were very promising, but in the end the program was not widely adopted for various political and social reasons related to the refusal of school systems to recognize AAVE as a dialect of English (152). Opinions on Ebonics still range from advocacy of official language status in the United States to denigration as "poor English" (152).
Teaching children whose primary dialect is AAVE poses problems beyond simply those commonly addressed by pedagogical techniques, and the Oakland approach has support among some educational theorists. However, such pedagogical approaches have given rise to educational and political disputes. Despite the clear linguistic evidence, the American public and policymakers remain divided over whether to even recognize AAVE as a legitimate dialect of English, perhaps due to unfounded beliefs that AAVE is a degradation of English. Though she had no standing in the school district, California State San Bernardino sociology professor Mary Texeira suggested, in July 2005, that Ebonics be included in the San Bernardino City Unified School District. The recommendation was met with a backlash similar to that in Oakland fifteen years before.
The overwhelming controversy and debates concerning AAVE in public schools insinuate the deeper, more implicit deterministic attitudes towards the African-American community as a whole. Smitherman describes this as a reflection of the "power elite’s perceived insignificance and hence rejection of Afro-American language and culture".[26] She also asserts that since African Americans, in order to succeed, are forced to conform to European American society this ultimately means the "eradication of black language…and the adoption of the linguistic norms of the white middle class." The necessity for a "bi-dialectialism" (AAVE and SAE) has "some blacks contend that being bi-dialectal not only causes a schism in the black personality, but it also like saying black talk is 'good enough' for blacks but not for whites"[27]
Appalachian English
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Appalachian English is a common name for the Southern Midland dialect of American English. This dialect is spoken in Southern West Virginia, Southwestern Virginia, Southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, the Upper Potomac and Shenandoah Valleys of Virginia and West Virginia, Western Maryland, East Tennessee, and Western North Carolina as well as northeastern Alabama. It is a dialect distinct from Southern American English, and it has more in common with the Northern Midland dialect of Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia than the non-rhotic Southern dialect. While most of this area lies within Appalachia as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission, Appalachian English is not the dialect of the entire region the Commission defines as Appalachia.
The dialect is rhotic and characterized by distinct phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon. It is mostly oral but can also be found in writing. Detractors of the dialect both within and outside of the speaking area cite laziness or indifference in learning standard forms as the reasons for its existence. However, the areas where Appalachian English is spoken were settled in the 18th century, and many of the characteristics of the dialect predate the standardization of American English and continue to be passed on orally.
English speakers who settled the area came mostly from West Anglia, the Scottish Lowlands, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland via Northern Ireland in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and their speech forms the basis of the dialect. Along with German immigrants, these groups populated an area which is still largely homogeneous culturally.
Some speakers claim that those who came to Appalachia from Scotland by way of Northern Ireland, the Scotch-Irish or Ulster Scots, had the greatest role in shaping modern Appalachian English, but there is no evidence of this aside from overly sympathetic and romanticized comparisons with modern English spoken by Protestants in Ulster. Such comparisons are often made by self-educated amateur local historians who self-identify as Irish or Scotch-Irish.
Speakers of Appalachian English have little or no trouble understanding standard English, but even native speakers of other dialects can find it somewhat unintelligible, and foreigners can have significant trouble understanding it. Standard forms are taught in schools to some extent, although elementary school teachers are usually only marginally more compliant with standard forms than the average adult.
Like many regional dialects it is used most often or most characteristically in discussing cuisine, in storytelling, or when discussing native industries (i.e., coal mining, forestry: logging). The characteristic syntax and morphology of Appalachian English gives way to more standard forms in schools, public speaking venues, and courts of law, but the phonology is likely to remain the same.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
• 2 Grammar
o 2.1 Conjugation of the verb "to be"
o 2.2 Other verb forms
o 2.3 Pronouns and demonstratives
• 3 Sample vocabulary
• 4 Sources
• 5 Notes
[edit] Phonology
Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.
Vowels are pronounced for a slightly longer period of time than those in standard forms of English, and diphthongs can clearly be heard to have two distinct vowels, creating the characteristic "drawl" of Appalachian English.
The vowel sound represented by the letter "i" is pronounced as [ɑː] rather than the standard [ɑj].
Wash is pronounced [wɔɹʃ]. The standard American English pronunciation is [wɔʃ] or [wɑʃ]).
Creek is pronounced [kɹɪk] (cf. standard English [kɹik]).
Hollow is pronounced [hɑlɹ̩] (cf. standard English [hɑloʊ]).
Hills is pronounced [hilz] (cf. standard English [hɪlz]). This trait is shared by many other words ending in -ill.
In is pronounced [iən] (standard English: [ɪn]).
The pin/pen merger is complete in Appalachia, and a pen used for writing is distinguished via the term "ink pen." Neither word is pronounced as in standard English; instead, they both rhyme with "in" with the modified pronunciation indicated above.
Participles and gerunds such as "doing" and "mining" end in [n] instead of [iŋ].
Word final "a" is frequently pronounced [ij], as in "Santa Claus."
Intervocalic "s" as in "greasy" is pronounced [z].
People who live in the Appalachian dialect area pronounce the word "Appalachia" ['æpə'lætʃə] or ['æpə'lætʃiə] - App-a-latch-ah, while those who live outside of the Appalachian dialect area or at its outer edges tend to pronounce it [æpə'leɪʃə] App-a-lay-csh-ah.
Research suggests that this dialect is one of the most maintained and well-concentrated dialects within the whole United States.
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Conjugation of the verb "to be"
The conjugation of the verb "to be" is different from that of standard English in several ways, and there is sometimes more than one form of the verb "to be" acceptable in Appalachian English. The use of the word ain't is one of the most salient features of this dialect. Ain't originated as a contraction of "am not." Today, however, it is used as the negative form of the verb "to be" in the present tense (cf. Scottish Gaelic chan eil) and is used instead of a conjugated form of the verb "to have" plus "not" to express the present perfect tense. An example of the latter would be "He ain't done it" instead of "He hasn't done it."
Whereas standard English makes no distinction aside from context between the singular and plural forms of the second person past tense forms of the verb "to be," using "you were" for both, Appalachian English has "you was" and "y'all were," making for a more balanced paradigm with "was" used for the singular past tense in all cases, and "were" used for the plural.
"Is you?" is sometimes used instead of "Are you?"
Singular forms of the verb "to be" are often used with pronouns, as in "Them is the ones I want" and "Him and her is real good folks."
Pluralized concrete nouns used as abstract nouns call for a singular form of the verb, i.e. "Apples is good for you."
"Was" is often used in the third person plural, i.e. "They was there."
[edit] Other verb forms
Sometimes the past participle of a strong verb such as "do" is used in place of the past tense. For example, "I done it already" instead of "I did it already" or in the case of the verb "see," "I seen" instead of "I saw."
"Went" is often used instead of "gone" as the past participle of the verb "to go." She had went to Ashland. Less frequently, "gone" is used as the simple past tense. I gone down to the meeting, but wasn't nobody there.
"Done" is used with the past tense (or a past participle commonly used as a past tense, such as "gone") to express action just completed, as in, "I done went/gone to the store".
Some English strong verbs are occasionally conjugated as weak verbs in Appalachian English, i.e. "knowed," and "seed." Most speakers of Appalachian English do not use these forms, however, as they indicate the lowest level of social prestige.
The construction "don't...no" is used with transitive verbs to indicate the negative, i.e. "He don't know no better." This is commonly referred to as the double negative, and is either negative or emphatically negative, never positive. "None" is often used in place of "any," as in "I don't have none."
Verb forms for the verb "to lay" are used instead of forms of the verb "to lie." For example, "Lay down and hush."
Often, got is used in place of have. "If they ain't got it, you don't need it."
Participles found in present tense progressive aspect verb forms often have a vowel prefix commonly written with an "a" followed by a hyphen, and this is pronounced as a schwa sound. An example is "I'm a-goin' now." Cf. the composite present of Scottish Gaelic, as in Tha mi a-smochach, or "I'm smoking."
"Might could" is sometimes used where a speaker of standard English would say, "could maybe."
"Feet" - when speaking about measurement - is often rarely used and replaced by the singular, "foot". For example" "That stick is 3 foot", or "We need 6 foot of drywall".
The future perfect is all but nonexistent.
[edit] Pronouns and demonstratives
"Them" is sometimes used in place of "those" as a demonstrative in both nominative and oblique constructions. Examples are "Them are the pants I want" and "Give me some of them crackers."
Oblique forms of the personal pronouns are used as nominative when more than one is used (cf. French moi et toi). For example, "Me and him are real good buddies" is said instead of "He and I are really good friends."
Accusative case personal pronouns are used as reflexives in situations that, in American English, do not typically demand them (e.g., "I'm gonna get me a haircut"). The -self/-selves forms are used almost exclusively as emphatics, and then often in non-standard forms (e.g., "the preacher hisself").
Second person pronouns are often retained as subjects in imperative sentences (e.g., "You go an' get you a cookie").
[edit] Sample vocabulary
• Directly: later, after a while, when it becomes convienent, soon, immediately (largely depending on context). "Meetin'll [church service] will be lettin' out directly" (Sometimes dreckly)[1]
• Buggy: shopping cart. Get me that buggy, and make sure it don't have no broken wheel.
• Poke: pouch. Get me a poke of Red Man [tobacco].
• Chaw: chewing tobacco. Chaw comes three ways: in a poke, a twist, or a plug.
• Plug: a quid of tobacco. That boy done slobbered all on my plug.
• Blinds: window shades. Open them blinds and let some sunshine in!
• Skillet: a frying pan. They's patty sausage in the skillet.
• Coke (Coh-cola): Applied to all flavored, carbonated sodas, regardless of brand or type. I'm goin' to get a coke.
• Soda: bicarbonate of soda. I mixed me some soda for my indigestion.
• Reckon: think, guess, suppose. I reckon you don't like soup beans. This is an actual English word that is used only in Appalachia, Britain and Australia.
• Polecat: a skunk. Don't bother that there polecat or he'll spray you.
• Touched: (pronounced [tɛtʃt]) crazy. That boy's touched. Don't pay him no mind.
• Plum or plumb: an intensifier for verbs. Son, you're plum crazy.; a directional adverb meaning "all the way." That dog run plum under the house.
• Hussy: (pronounced with a [z]) a mean or spiteful woman; a promiscuous woman.
• Pokestock: a single shot shotgun. I'll sell you an old pokestock for forty bucks.
• Kyarn: Roadkill "That smells like kyarn."
• Cornpone: A batch of cornbread
• Fit: Used in place of the word "Fought"
• Yonder: a directional adverb further away than "here" or "there," preceded by the preposition "over." He's over yonder. It can also be used as an adjective after a noun phrase containing a demonstrative. Get me that rake yonder.
• Mess: The amount of a particular food that is needed to be cooked in order to serve everyone present. Mary, go fetch me a mess of them green beans.
• Fixin: A serving or helping of food or preparing to do something. Can I get a fixin of dumplings?, "I'm fixin to do somethin'."
• Clean: Similar to 'plum' [above], verb modifier that is used to mean entirely completing an action. Can be used in place of 'all the way.' He knocked it clean off'n the table - He knocked it all the way off'n the table.
Appalachian English
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Jump to: navigation, search
This article or section may contain original research or unattributed claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.
Appalachian English is a common name for the Southern Midland dialect of American English. This dialect is spoken in Southern West Virginia, Southwestern Virginia, Southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, the Upper Potomac and Shenandoah Valleys of Virginia and West Virginia, Western Maryland, East Tennessee, and Western North Carolina as well as northeastern Alabama. It is a dialect distinct from Southern American English, and it has more in common with the Northern Midland dialect of Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia than the non-rhotic Southern dialect. While most of this area lies within Appalachia as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission, Appalachian English is not the dialect of the entire region the Commission defines as Appalachia.
The dialect is rhotic and characterized by distinct phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon. It is mostly oral but can also be found in writing. Detractors of the dialect both within and outside of the speaking area cite laziness or indifference in learning standard forms as the reasons for its existence. However, the areas where Appalachian English is spoken were settled in the 18th century, and many of the characteristics of the dialect predate the standardization of American English and continue to be passed on orally.
English speakers who settled the area came mostly from West Anglia, the Scottish Lowlands, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland via Northern Ireland in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and their speech forms the basis of the dialect. Along with German immigrants, these groups populated an area which is still largely homogeneous culturally.
Some speakers claim that those who came to Appalachia from Scotland by way of Northern Ireland, the Scotch-Irish or Ulster Scots, had the greatest role in shaping modern Appalachian English, but there is no evidence of this aside from overly sympathetic and romanticized comparisons with modern English spoken by Protestants in Ulster. Such comparisons are often made by self-educated amateur local historians who self-identify as Irish or Scotch-Irish.
Speakers of Appalachian English have little or no trouble understanding standard English, but even native speakers of other dialects can find it somewhat unintelligible, and foreigners can have significant trouble understanding it. Standard forms are taught in schools to some extent, although elementary school teachers are usually only marginally more compliant with standard forms than the average adult.
Like many regional dialects it is used most often or most characteristically in discussing cuisine, in storytelling, or when discussing native industries (i.e., coal mining, forestry: logging). The characteristic syntax and morphology of Appalachian English gives way to more standard forms in schools, public speaking venues, and courts of law, but the phonology is likely to remain the same.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
• 2 Grammar
o 2.1 Conjugation of the verb "to be"
o 2.2 Other verb forms
o 2.3 Pronouns and demonstratives
• 3 Sample vocabulary
• 4 Sources
• 5 Notes
[edit] Phonology
Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.
Vowels are pronounced for a slightly longer period of time than those in standard forms of English, and diphthongs can clearly be heard to have two distinct vowels, creating the characteristic "drawl" of Appalachian English.
The vowel sound represented by the letter "i" is pronounced as [ɑː] rather than the standard [ɑj].
Wash is pronounced [wɔɹʃ]. The standard American English pronunciation is [wɔʃ] or [wɑʃ]).
Creek is pronounced [kɹɪk] (cf. standard English [kɹik]).
Hollow is pronounced [hɑlɹ̩] (cf. standard English [hɑloʊ]).
Hills is pronounced [hilz] (cf. standard English [hɪlz]). This trait is shared by many other words ending in -ill.
In is pronounced [iən] (standard English: [ɪn]).
The pin/pen merger is complete in Appalachia, and a pen used for writing is distinguished via the term "ink pen." Neither word is pronounced as in standard English; instead, they both rhyme with "in" with the modified pronunciation indicated above.
Participles and gerunds such as "doing" and "mining" end in [n] instead of [iŋ].
Word final "a" is frequently pronounced [ij], as in "Santa Claus."
Intervocalic "s" as in "greasy" is pronounced [z].
People who live in the Appalachian dialect area pronounce the word "Appalachia" ['æpə'lætʃə] or ['æpə'lætʃiə] - App-a-latch-ah, while those who live outside of the Appalachian dialect area or at its outer edges tend to pronounce it [æpə'leɪʃə] App-a-lay-csh-ah.
Research suggests that this dialect is one of the most maintained and well-concentrated dialects within the whole United States.
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Conjugation of the verb "to be"
The conjugation of the verb "to be" is different from that of standard English in several ways, and there is sometimes more than one form of the verb "to be" acceptable in Appalachian English. The use of the word ain't is one of the most salient features of this dialect. Ain't originated as a contraction of "am not." Today, however, it is used as the negative form of the verb "to be" in the present tense (cf. Scottish Gaelic chan eil) and is used instead of a conjugated form of the verb "to have" plus "not" to express the present perfect tense. An example of the latter would be "He ain't done it" instead of "He hasn't done it."
Whereas standard English makes no distinction aside from context between the singular and plural forms of the second person past tense forms of the verb "to be," using "you were" for both, Appalachian English has "you was" and "y'all were," making for a more balanced paradigm with "was" used for the singular past tense in all cases, and "were" used for the plural.
"Is you?" is sometimes used instead of "Are you?"
Singular forms of the verb "to be" are often used with pronouns, as in "Them is the ones I want" and "Him and her is real good folks."
Pluralized concrete nouns used as abstract nouns call for a singular form of the verb, i.e. "Apples is good for you."
"Was" is often used in the third person plural, i.e. "They was there."
[edit] Other verb forms
Sometimes the past participle of a strong verb such as "do" is used in place of the past tense. For example, "I done it already" instead of "I did it already" or in the case of the verb "see," "I seen" instead of "I saw."
"Went" is often used instead of "gone" as the past participle of the verb "to go." She had went to Ashland. Less frequently, "gone" is used as the simple past tense. I gone down to the meeting, but wasn't nobody there.
"Done" is used with the past tense (or a past participle commonly used as a past tense, such as "gone") to express action just completed, as in, "I done went/gone to the store".
Some English strong verbs are occasionally conjugated as weak verbs in Appalachian English, i.e. "knowed," and "seed." Most speakers of Appalachian English do not use these forms, however, as they indicate the lowest level of social prestige.
The construction "don't...no" is used with transitive verbs to indicate the negative, i.e. "He don't know no better." This is commonly referred to as the double negative, and is either negative or emphatically negative, never positive. "None" is often used in place of "any," as in "I don't have none."
Verb forms for the verb "to lay" are used instead of forms of the verb "to lie." For example, "Lay down and hush."
Often, got is used in place of have. "If they ain't got it, you don't need it."
Participles found in present tense progressive aspect verb forms often have a vowel prefix commonly written with an "a" followed by a hyphen, and this is pronounced as a schwa sound. An example is "I'm a-goin' now." Cf. the composite present of Scottish Gaelic, as in Tha mi a-smochach, or "I'm smoking."
"Might could" is sometimes used where a speaker of standard English would say, "could maybe."
"Feet" - when speaking about measurement - is often rarely used and replaced by the singular, "foot". For example" "That stick is 3 foot", or "We need 6 foot of drywall".
The future perfect is all but nonexistent.
[edit] Pronouns and demonstratives
"Them" is sometimes used in place of "those" as a demonstrative in both nominative and oblique constructions. Examples are "Them are the pants I want" and "Give me some of them crackers."
Oblique forms of the personal pronouns are used as nominative when more than one is used (cf. French moi et toi). For example, "Me and him are real good buddies" is said instead of "He and I are really good friends."
Accusative case personal pronouns are used as reflexives in situations that, in American English, do not typically demand them (e.g., "I'm gonna get me a haircut"). The -self/-selves forms are used almost exclusively as emphatics, and then often in non-standard forms (e.g., "the preacher hisself").
Second person pronouns are often retained as subjects in imperative sentences (e.g., "You go an' get you a cookie").
[edit] Sample vocabulary
• Directly: later, after a while, when it becomes convienent, soon, immediately (largely depending on context). "Meetin'll [church service] will be lettin' out directly" (Sometimes dreckly)[1]
• Buggy: shopping cart. Get me that buggy, and make sure it don't have no broken wheel.
• Poke: pouch. Get me a poke of Red Man [tobacco].
• Chaw: chewing tobacco. Chaw comes three ways: in a poke, a twist, or a plug.
• Plug: a quid of tobacco. That boy done slobbered all on my plug.
• Blinds: window shades. Open them blinds and let some sunshine in!
• Skillet: a frying pan. They's patty sausage in the skillet.
• Coke (Coh-cola): Applied to all flavored, carbonated sodas, regardless of brand or type. I'm goin' to get a coke.
• Soda: bicarbonate of soda. I mixed me some soda for my indigestion.
• Reckon: think, guess, suppose. I reckon you don't like soup beans. This is an actual English word that is used only in Appalachia, Britain and Australia.
• Polecat: a skunk. Don't bother that there polecat or he'll spray you.
• Touched: (pronounced [tɛtʃt]) crazy. That boy's touched. Don't pay him no mind.
• Plum or plumb: an intensifier for verbs. Son, you're plum crazy.; a directional adverb meaning "all the way." That dog run plum under the house.
• Hussy: (pronounced with a [z]) a mean or spiteful woman; a promiscuous woman.
• Pokestock: a single shot shotgun. I'll sell you an old pokestock for forty bucks.
• Kyarn: Roadkill "That smells like kyarn."
• Cornpone: A batch of cornbread
• Fit: Used in place of the word "Fought"
• Yonder: a directional adverb further away than "here" or "there," preceded by the preposition "over." He's over yonder. It can also be used as an adjective after a noun phrase containing a demonstrative. Get me that rake yonder.
• Mess: The amount of a particular food that is needed to be cooked in order to serve everyone present. Mary, go fetch me a mess of them green beans.
• Fixin: A serving or helping of food or preparing to do something. Can I get a fixin of dumplings?, "I'm fixin to do somethin'."
• Clean: Similar to 'plum' [above], verb modifier that is used to mean entirely completing an action. Can be used in place of 'all the way.' He knocked it clean off'n the table - He knocked it all the way off'n the table.
Baltimorese
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Jump to: navigation, search
Baltimorese, sometimes phonetically written Bawlmerese or Ballimerese, is a dialect of American English in the Mid Atlantic United States that originated among the white blue-collar residents of working class South and Southeast Baltimore. Today, it is heard much less throughout the city and in some areas of central Maryland, as many people from other parts of the country have moved to the city. It is considered a Northern Midland patois. It shares many characteristics of an Eastern port city. The films of John Waters, all of which have been filmed in and around Baltimore, usually feature actors and actresses with thick Baltimore accents, particularly in his early films.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Pronunciation
• 2 Dialectic terms
• 3 References
• 4 External links
[edit] Pronunciation
Baltimorese resembles Philadelphia-area English pronunciation in several ways. These two cities are the only ports on the Eastern Seaboard to retain rhotic speech, which was greatly influenced by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English. Also, the "l" sound is "dark", indistinctive or vocalized. Vowels in Baltimorese are flattened and shifted, however, which is more characteristic of Southern American English. Some vowels, as well as certain vernaculars can be traced to Appalachian influences.
• [f] is often substituted for [θ]
• [eɪ] becomes [i]; bared can rhyme with leered
• [aɪ] as well as the diphthongs [ɔɪ] and [aʊ] become [ɔ]; choir and hire rhyme with war, aisle and boil with ball
• [aɪ] becomes [a] before [ɹ]; fire is pronounced as far
• t's become d's, disappear entirely, or blend with other sounds in a word; 'hunter' becomes 'hunner', 'Baltimore' becomes 'Baldimore' or 'Ballimer'.
• [oʊ] shifts to [eʊ]; one cheers for the Eh-ew's (O's, for the Baltimore Orioles).
• The [ɪŋ](-ing) ending of participle forms is pronounced as [in] as in "They're go-een to the store."
• epenthetic [ɹ]
• elision is common
[edit] Dialectic terms
• aigs - eggs
• Amblance -- ambulance
• Anna Runnel - Anne Arundel County
• arnjuice - orange juice (an example of the widespread use of elision)
• Atna Canny - in the suburbs, i.e. "out in the County." May or may not refer to Baltimore County
• Bawlmer - Baltimore (pronounced BAWL-mur)
• Beegeenee - BG&E (Baltimore Gas & Electric)
• Beeno - B&O Railroad
• Blare - Bel Air, or Belair Road.
• bolth - both
• Caff lick - Catholic
• cole race beef samwish - cold roast beef sandwich
• colm - comb
• crown - crayon
• Curroll - Carroll, as in Carroll County
• downey ayshin (down the ocean) - at the beach (spent sum'r weekends downey ayshin). 'At' or 'to' is implied, but not a part of the elision; specifically, it means Ocean City, Maryland
• Droodle Pork - a reference to Druid Hill Park
• Dundawk - Dundalk, as in Dundalk, Maryland
• gubmint - government
• hon - a universal name used for greeting (in extreme instances, pronounced in two syllables, "huh-in")
• How bout dem O's? - a pleasant inquiry on the state of Orioles baseball
• iggle - eagle
• jeet - did you eat?
• laig - leg
• lieberry - library
• meer - mirror
• Merlin - Maryland
• miyan - mine
• Naplis - Annapolis
• Mundee - Monday
o Toosdee - Tuesday
o Wensdee - Wednesday
o Thursdee - Thursday
o Fridee - Friday
o Satdee or Saddee - Saturday
o Sundee - Sunday
The days of the week, following this pronunciation, may be well diffused in the Mid-Atlantic, and though it may not originate in Baltimore, it is characteristic of Baltimorean speech.
• ool - oil
• ornj - orange
• arster - oyster
• pill-uh - pillow
• pleese - multiple police officers
• sharr - shower
• sheen - shortened from "machine", an older synonym for a car
• tawlit - toilet
• taeta - potato (most commonly used with 'chips')
• warsh - to wash
• Warshngton - As in Washington D.C., or Washington County
• warder or wooder - ('wood' rhyming with 'could', and not with 'brood') water
• wind-uh - window
• wooja - Would you?
• yell-uh - yellow
• Yerp - Europe
• youse - plural of you
• zink - sink
Boston accent
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Jump to: navigation, search
The Boston accent is the English dialect not only of the city of Boston, Massachusetts itself but also much of eastern Massachusetts. It and closely related accents can be heard commonly in an area stretching throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. These regions are frequently grouped together with Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut by sociolinguists under the cover term Eastern New England accent. The best-known features of the Boston accent are non-rhoticity and broad A.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonological characteristics
o 1.1 Non-rhoticity
o 1.2 Vowels
• 2 Non-rhoticity elsewhere in New England
• 3 Well-known speakers of/with the Boston accent
• 4 Vocabulary
• 5 Recordings of the Boston accent
• 6 Maps
• 7 References
[edit] Phonological characteristics
All phonetic transcriptions in the IPA; for example:
how are you? [hoˈwaːjə]
[edit] Non-rhoticity
The traditional Boston accent is non-rhotic; in other words, the phoneme [r] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant, as in British English. Thus, there is no [r] in words like park [paːk], car [kaː], and Harvard [haːvəd]. After high and mid-high vowels, the [r] is replaced by [ə] or another neutral central vowel like [ɨ]: weird [wiɨd], square [skweə]. Similarly, unstressed [ɝ] ("er") is replaced by [ə], [ɐ], or [ɨ], as in color [kʌlə].
Although not all Boston-area speakers are non-rhotic, this remains the feature most widely associated with the region. As a result, it is frequently the butt of jokes about Boston, as in Jon Stewart's America (The Book), in which he states that the Massachusetts Legislature ratified everything in John Adams' 1780 Massachusetts Constitution "except the letter 'R'".
In the most traditional and old-fashioned Boston accents, what is in other dialects [ɔr] becomes a low back vowel [ɒ]: corn is [kɒːn], pronounced the same or almost the same as con or cawn.
For some old-fashioned speakers, stressed [ɝ] as in bird is replaced by [ʏ] ([bʏd]); for many present-day Boston-accent speakers, however, [ɝ] is retained. More speakers lose [r] after other vowels than lose [ɝ].
The Boston accent possesses both linking R and intrusive R: That is to say, a [r] will not be lost at the end of a word if the next word begins with a vowel, and indeed a [r] will be inserted after a word ending with a central or low vowel if the next word begins with a vowel: the tuner is and the tuna is are both [ðə tunərɪz]
Some speakers who are natively non-rhotic or partially non-rhotic attempt to change their accent by restoring [r] to word-final position. For example, on the NPR program Car Talk, hosted by the Boston-native Magliozzi brothers, one host has castigated the other on air for saying [kaː] instead of [kɑɹ]. Occasionally such speakers may hypercorrect and "restore" [r] to a word that never originally had it; idea is a common example.
There are also a number of Boston accent speakers with rhoticity, but they sometimes delete [r] only in unaccented syllables or words before a consonant.
[edit] Vowels
The Boston accent has a highly distinctive system of low vowels, even in speakers who do not drop [r] as described above. Eastern New England is the only region in North America where the distinction between the vowels in words like father and spa on the one hand and words like bother and hot on the other hand is securely maintained: the former contain [aː] ([faːðə], [spaː]), and the latter [ɒː] ([bɒːðə], [hɒːt]). This means that even though heart has no [r], it remains distinct from hot because its vowel quality is different: [haːt]. By contrast, the accent of New York uses the same or almost the same vowel in both of these classes: [ɑː]. The Received Pronunciation of England, like Boston English, distinguishes the classes, using [ɑː] in father and [ɒ] in bother.
On the other hand, the Boston accent (unlike the Rhode Island accent) merges the two classes exemplified by caught and cot: both become [kɒːt]. So caught, cot, law, water, rock, talk, doll, and wall all have exactly the same vowel, [ɒː]. For some speakers, as mentioned above, words like corn and horse also have this vowel. By contrast, New York accents have [kɔːt] for caught and [kɑːt] for cot; Received Pronunciation has [kɔːt] and [kɒt], respectively.
Some older Boston speakers — the ones who have a low vowel in words like corn [kɒːn] — do not undergo the so-called horse-hoarse merger, i.e., they maintain a distinction between horse and for on the one hand and hoarse and four on the other. The former are in the same class as corn, as [hɒːs] and [fɒː], and the latter are ['howəs] and ['fowə]. This distinction is rapidly fading out of currency, as it is in almost all regions of North America that still make it.
Boston English has a so-called "nasal short-a system". This means that the "short a" vowel [æ] as in cat and rat becomes a mid-high front diphthong [eə] when it precedes a nasal consonant: thus man is [meən] and planet is [pleənət]. Boston shares this system with the accents of the southern part of the Midwest. By contrast, Received Pronunciation uses [æ] regardless of whether the next consonant is nasal or not, and New York uses [eə] before a nasal at the end of a syllable ([meən]) but not before a nasal between two vowels ([plænət]).
A feature that some Boston English speakers share with Received Pronunciation is the so-called Broad A: In some words that in other accents have [æ], such as half and bath, that vowel is replaced with [aː]: [haːf], [baːθ]. (In Received Pronunciation, the Broad A vowel is [ɑː].) Fewer words have the Broad A in Boston English than in Received Pronunciation, and fewer and fewer Boston speakers maintain the Broad A system as time goes on, but it is still noticeable.
Boston accents make a greater variety of distinctions between short and long vowels before medial [r] than many other modern American accents do: Boston accents maintain the distinctions between the vowels in marry [mæri], merry [mɛri], and Mary [meəri], hurry [hʌri] and furry [fɝri], mirror [mɪrə] and nearer [niərə], though some of these distinctions are somewhat endangered as people under 40 in neighboring New Hampshire and Maine blend the vowel sound. Boston shares these distinctions with both New York and Received Pronunciation, but the Midwest, for instance, has lost them entirely.
The nuclei of the diphthongs /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ may be raised to something like /ɐ/ before voiceless consonants: thus write has a higher vowel than ride. This effect is known usually as Canadian raising, though it is less extreme in New England than in most of Canada. Furthermore, some Boston dialects have a tendency (similar to the Upper Midwest) to raise the /au/ diphthong in both voiced and voiceless environments.
The nuclei of /oʊ/ and /uː/ are significantly less fronted than in many American accents.
[edit] Non-rhoticity elsewhere in New England
Non-rhoticity outside of the Boston area decreased greatly after World War II. Traditional maps have marked most of the territory east of the Connecticut river as non-rhotic, but this is highly inaccurate of contemporary speakers. The Atlas of North American English, for example, shows none of the six interviewed speakers in New Hampshire (a historically non-rhotic area) as having more than 10% non-rhoticity.
[edit] Well-known speakers of/with the Boston accent
• Norm Abram, carpenter known for work on television programs such as This Old House
• Ben Affleck, actor who performed accent in Good Will Hunting performance, lacks one normally
• Dicky Barrett, frontman of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live
• Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City
• Ernie Boch, car dealership owner, famous for his TV advertisements for new and used "cahs"
• William J. Bratton, Los Angeles Chief of Police
• Andy Brickley, sports commentator for Boston Bruins
• Andrew Card, first White House Chief-of-Staff of the George W. Bush administration
• Lenny Clarke, comedian and actor
• Cliff Clavin, fictional Cheers character, spoke in a very poor imitation of a Boston accent. Actor John Ratzenberger's affected "Boston accent" is the subject of much ridicule in Boston, especially his pronunciation of the names "Norm" (or "Normy") and "Diane", which bear little resemblance to the actual Boston-accent pronunciations.
• Chick Corea, jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer
• Matt Damon, performed in Good Will Hunting and The Departed performances, lacks accent normally
• Bill Delahunt, US House Representative from Massachusetts's 10th congressional district
• Nick DiPaolo, comedian
• Sully Erna, singer of Godsmack
• Loyd Grossman, chef and presenter on British television
• Edward "Ted" Kennedy (the Kennedys are sometimes described as speaking with a "Kennedy accent," which also includes shades of a British accent and what is sometimes referred to as New England lockjaw, i.e., upper-class WASP accent)
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy see above
• Robert F. Kennedy see above
• Don Kent (meteorologist)
• Denis Leary has perhaps only hints of one but has imitated/affected one in films
• Christopher Lydon, syndicated public radio talk show personality
• Tom and Ray Magliozzi of National Public Radio's Car Talk
• Rob Mariano, reality television contestant
• Ed Markey US House Representative from Massachusetts's 7th congressional district
• Joe McIntyre, former New Kids On The Block member
• Christy Mihos, businessman whose campaign ads received some national attention in his unsuccessful bid as an Independent candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006
• George J. Mitchell, former Senator from Maine
• Leonard Nimoy, actor on the original Star Trek series
• Tip O'Neill, late Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• Joe Perry, lead guitarist of Aerosmith
• Joe Quimby, Mayor in The Simpsons cartoon (a parody of the Kennedy accent)
• Jerry Remy, Boston Red Sox color commentator for Fox and NESN
• Fred Smerlas, former football player for the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots
• Donna Summer, singer
• Donnie Wahlberg
• Mark Wahlberg has generally been able to be detected to a degree throughout his career but particularly in earlier films such as Fear and The Departed
• Charles Emerson Winchester III, fictional M*A*S*H character. Actor David Ogden Stiers affected a "Boston accent" that is easily identified as an imitation by Bostonians, especially his "ar" combination in "Margaret" and "Harvard", which does not match the actual Boston pronuniations.
• Steven Wright, legendary comedian
• The Real World: Seattle castmember David Burns, The Real World: Paris castmember Chris "CT" Tamburello, The Real World: San Diego castmember Randy Barry, The Real World: Austin castmember Danny Jamieson
• Jimmy Fallon Former Saturday Night Live cast member - famous for his Boston Teens Character - Sully - with a heavy Boston Accent.
• Charlie Moore, Competitive Bass fisherman featured on ESPN2/ESPN: Outdoors
[edit] Vocabulary
Main article: Boston slang
Some words used in the Boston area but not in many other American English dialects (or with different meanings) are:
• barrel or rubbish barrel — 'wastebasket'
• bubbler or water bubbler — 'drinking fountain'
• carriage — 'shopping cart'
• cleansers — 'cleaners (mostly on signage)'
• clicker — 'television remote control'
• coffee regular — 'coffee with milk (or cream) and usually two spoonsful of sugar'
• dooryard - the front yard or driveway area
• donut: chocolate frosted — 'a raised donut with chocolate frosting'
• donut: chocolate glazed — 'a chocolate cake donut with chocolate frosting'
• down cellar — 'in the basement'
• elastic — 'rubber band'
• frappe — 'milkshake made with ice cream'[1]
• fudgicle — as opposed to 'fudgesicle' with an s
• grinder — 'submarine sandwich'
• into town — 'into Boston' (contrast to New Yorkers' use of "the City")
• The Hub — 'another name for Boston, as in the Hub of the Universe'
• johnny — a medical gown worn by patients for examinations
• packie — 'liquor store', short for "package store"
• rotary — 'traffic circle or roundabout'
• spa — 'convenience store' (originally, it meant a store with a soda fountain)
• spuckey — 'submarine sandwich,' older speakers in South Boston
• time — 'a party', e.g., "My buddy's having a time over at his place."
• tonic — 'carbonated soda,' older speakers.
• townies — A native of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A Tufts or Harvard student might refer to locals as such, much to the dismay of the locals.
• trash — refuse that is not garbage
• triple decker — 'a three-story, three-family home with one unit built on top of the other, normally with a flat roof'
• wicked — 'very'; alternatively, 'wicked' may also indicate approval or become a universal descriptor, e.g., "That chowdah was wicked good."
Buffalo English
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Buffalo English, sometimes colloquially referred to as Buffalonian, is the unique variety of English occasionally used in and around the U.S. city of Buffalo, New York. The distinctively Buffalonian accent is usually only strongly present in lower class speakers and is diminishing rapidly (as are most other city dialects, such as Baltimorese). The most commonly heard speech style and cadence nowadays heard in Buffalo is indistinguishable to most listeners from that spoken in any of the large cities along the Great Lakes. Most speakers of Buffalonian English perceive Standard American English as unaccented, though the reverse may not be true. The zone in which Buffalonian English is found is a region extending to Buffalo on the west, Rochester on the east, Lake Ontario to the north, and Bradford, Pennsylvania to the south and roughly corresponds to the radio and television broadcast market of Buffalo.
Technically, the variety is part of the North Inland dialect of American English, which spreads from western Vermont to the Dakotas, and is therefore more like the local speech of Chicago and Michigan than New York City. However, as Buffalo and Buffalonians are in some respects tied geographically and culturally to southern Ontario (taste in sports, the presence of no less than three Canadian television stations as "local" stations, and the fact of sharing a city boundary with Canada itself), there is a very slight tendency towards a Canadian-flavored English amongst Buffalonians of all classes. While outright Canadian raising is not strongly present in Buffalonian speech, the speaker of Buffalonian English tends to be predisposed to it and may switch to it effortlessly and unintentionally when traveling in Canada. Other minor Canadianisms, such as ending sentences with the interrogative "eh?" are present (occasionally as "hey?" in Buffalo). For example: "He was there, hey?"
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Key traits
• 2 Speakers
• 3 References
• 4 See also
• 5 Resources
[edit] Key traits
Among its features are the flattening and nasalization of many vowels (this feature perhaps being the one universal feature of Buffalonian English across all socio-economic classes; it is almost always present in any Buffalo native), resulting in the pronunciation of, for instance, "mom" as "mam", or "apple" with a remarkably long duration and nasal initial vowel. Speakers of stronger Buffalonian variants are often wont to employ "possessification", where an ad hoc genitive case is applied to business names. For example, speakers of thick Buffalonian will say they shop at Kmart's, Target's or Home Depot's; have drug prescriptions filled at Rite-Aid's or Eckerd's; rent DVDs at Blockbuster's or Hollywood's (Hollywood Video); and eat lunch at Burger King's, Mighty Taco's, or Outback's (Outback Steakhouse). [1]
In contrast to other accents heard in New York State, Buffalonian English is very strongly rhotic, and not at all related to the non-rhotic accent of New York City, Boston, or other large cities of the northeastern United States. Additionally, the distinction between "cot" and "caught" (the so-called "caught-cot distinction") is very strong. [2]
Another notable feature is the addition of the definite article to road and place names at what are perceived to be unnatural times by speakers of standard American English. Most often occuring with expressways. "The" precedes all expressways in the Buffalo area. Ex the 90, the 290, the 33, the 190, the 400. You would never hear, "take 90 east" from a native Buffaloanian. You would hear "take the 90 east." [3]
Frequently, "yous" and "yous guys" as an informal second person plural pronoun is used in Buffalonian, and this usage is grammatical, akin to the pronoun "ihr" in German, rather than the simple improper usage that "yous" often represents in other city dialects. [4]
Occasionally present, like in many Great Lakes cities, is the partial or complete devoicing of terminal 's' in many words. That is to say, terminal 's' is usually pronounced 'z' in American English; in Buffalonian, in fact, terminal 's' is occasionally pronounced 's'.
Another aspect of classical Buffalonian is the retention of a short aspiration before "wh" in most words (except for words such as "who" in which the 'w' is silent), so that "where" is preceded by a very short yet distinct "h" sound. That is to say, "wh" is pronounced "hw". This aspiration appears to be orthographically induced; it is never present in words containing a "w" without subsequent "h" so that for example "which" and "witch" are pronounced in quite different fashions by a speaker of Buffalonian, as are "wight" and "white", "whined" and "wind", "weigh" and "whey". In almost all cases, these pairs of words are pronounced identically anywhere else in the United States, though they are quite distinctly different in a strong Buffalonian accent, and slightly but noticeably different in any Buffalo accent.
Speakers of unaccented American English, unfamiliar with the specific Buffalo accent, often perceive a speaker of Buffalonian English to be speaking Canadian English or the same general northern American accent lampooned somewhat by the movie Fargo. Native Buffalonians, and in particular those in whom the Buffalonian accent was weaker, tend to rapidly lose their Buffalonian pronunciation, grammar, and cadence, when moving to a new region, allowing it to morph into standard American English regardless of the local dialect.
A feature believed to have originated with Polish immigrants and then spreading to the region as a whole is "there" interjected after a noun or pronoun for emphasis, sometimes more than once in a sentence — "Go out and get us some doughnuts at Tim Hortons there"; "My sister there lives down in Hamburg there." The extreme example is the sort of stereotypical resident who supposedly describes the city's football team as "dem dere Bills dere."[5]
[edit] Speakers
Like most regional American accents, it becomes more pronounced in working-class speakers, and is rarely present except in a weak sense in middle- and upper-class speakers. For this reason, Buffalonian English is more densely present in the City of Buffalo itself and in its once-industrial suburbs, such as Lackawanna and Cheektowaga. Buffalonian English is almost unknown in the historically white collar suburbs such as Amherst and the areas adjacent to the extremely large State University of New York at Buffalo. There are, perhaps, approximately 500,000 speakers of audibly Buffalonian English in the seven western counties of New York.
The area's large Polish-American population also has an impact on some speakers of that ethnic group, who in older generations spoke with at least a slight Polish accent even if they were native-born Americans and first-language English speakers. The phenomenon was once widespread enough that even today residents sometimes jocularly refer to Cheektowaga, a large suburb just east of the city with many Polish-Americans, as "Chickatavaga," a usage that even made an SCTV sketch.
California English
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California English is a dialect of the English language spoken in the U.S. state of California. The most populous of the United States, California is home to a highly diverse populace, which is reflected in the historical and continuing development of California English. As is the case of English spoken in any particular state, not all features are used by all speakers in the state, and not all features are restricted in use only to the state. However, there are some linguistic features which can be identified as either originally or predominantly Californian, or both.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Phonology
• 3 Lexical characteristics
o 3.1 Freeway nomenclature
o 3.2 Place names
• 4 California sociolects and Chicano English
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 Further reading
• 8 External links
[edit] History
English became spoken in the area now known as California on a wide scale beginning with a considerable influx of English-speaking European Americans during the California Gold Rush and after rapid growth from internal migration (from all parts of the United States, but particularly New England in earlier periods and later on, the Midwest) through the end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The heavy internal migration from regions in the United States east of California laid the early groundwork for the varieties of English spoken in California today.
Prior to World War I, the variety of speech types reflected the differing origins of these early inhabitants. At the time a distinctly southwestern drawl could be heard in Southern California, although the San Francisco area sounded more Midwestern.[citation needed] When a collapse in commodity prices followed World War I, many bankrupted Midwestern farmers migrated to California, bringing speech characteristic of Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa; and this speech type has dominated to this day. Subsequently, incoming groups with differing speech, such as the speakers of Highland Southern during the 1930s, have been absorbed within a generation.
California's status as a relatively young state is significant in that it has not had centuries for regional patterns to emerge and grow (compared to, say, some East Coast or Southern dialects). Linguists who studied English as spoken in California before and in the period immediately after World War II tended to find few if any distinct patterns unique to the region [1]. However, several decades later, with a more settled population and continued immigration from all over the globe, a noteworthy set of emerging characteristics of California English had begun to attract notice by linguists of the late 20th century and on.
[edit] Phonology
As a variety of American English, California English is similar to most other forms of American speech in being a rhotic accent, which is historically a significant marker in differentiating different English varieties. The following chart represents the relative positions of the stressed monophthongs of the accent, based on nine speakers from southern California.[2] Notable is the absence of /ɔ/, which has merged with /ɑ/ through the cot-caught merger, and the relatively open quality of /ɪ/ due to the California vowel shift discussed below.
There are several phonological processes which have been identified as being particular to California English. However, these shifts are by no means universal in Californian speech, and any single Californian's speech may only have some or none of the changes identified below. The shifts might also be found in the speech of people from areas outside of California.
• Front vowels are raised before velar nasal [ŋ], so that the near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/ and the near-close near-front unrounded vowel /ɪ/ are raised to a close-mid front unrounded vowel [e] and a close front unrounded vowel [i] before [ŋ]. This change makes for minimal pairs such as king and keen, both having the same vowel [i], differing from king [kɪŋ] in other varieties of English. Similarly, a word like rang will often have the same vowel as rain in California English, not the same vowel as ran as in other varieties.
• The vowels in words such as Mary, marry, merry are merged to the open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ]
• Most speakers do not distinguish between the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ] and open back unrounded vowel [ɑ], characteristic of the cot-caught merger. A notable exception may be found within the city limits of San Francisco, whose native inhabitants' speech somewhat reflects a historical East-Coast heritage which has probably influenced the maintenance of the distinction between words such as caught and cot.
• According to phoneticians studying California English, traditionally diphthongal vowels such as [oʊ] as in boat and [eɪ], as in bait, have acquired qualities much closer to monophthongs in some speakers of California English. However, the continuing presence of slight offglides (if less salient than those of, say, British Received Pronunciation) and convention in IPA transcription for English account for continuing use of [oʊ] and [eɪ].
• The pin-pen merger is complete in Bakersfield, and speakers in Sacramento either perceive or produce the pairs /ɛn/ and /ɪn/ close to each other[3].
One topic that has begun to receive much attention among scholars in recent years has been the emergence of a vowel shift unique to California. Much like other vowel shifts occurring in North America such as the Southern Vowel Shift, Northern Cities Vowel Shift, and the Canadian Shift the California Vowel Shift is noted for a systematic chain shift of several vowels.
The California vowel shift, based on a diagram at Penelope Eckert's webpage.
This image on the right illustrates the California vowel shift. The vowel space of the image is a cross-section (as if looking at the interior of a mouth from a side profile perspective); it is a rough approximation of the space in a human mouth where the tongue is located in articulating certain vowel sounds (the left is the front of the mouth closer to the teeth, the right side of the chart being the back of the mouth). As with other vowel shifts, several vowels may be seen moving in a chain shift around the mouth. As one vowel encroaches upon the space of another, the adjacent vowel in turn experiences a movement in order to maximize phonemic differentiation.
Two phonemes, /ɪ/ and /æ/, have allophones that are fairly widely spread apart from each other: before /ŋ/, /ɪ/ is raised to [i] and, as mentioned above, may even be identified with the phoneme /i/. In other contexts, /ɪ/ has a fairly open pronunciation, as indicated in the vowel chart above. /æ/ is raised and diphthongized to [eə] or [ɪə] before nasal consonants (a shift reminiscent of, but more restricted than, non-phonemic æ-tensing in the Inland North); before /ŋ/ it may be identified with the phoneme /e/. Elsewhere /æ/ is lowered in the direction of [a]. The other parts of the chain shift are apparently context-free: /ʊ/ is moving towards [ʌ], /ʌ/ towards [ɛ], /ɛ/ toward [æ], /ɑ/ toward [ɔ], and the starting points of /uʊ/ and /oʊ/ toward /i/ and /e/ respectively.
Unlike some of the other vowel shifts, however, the California Vowel Shift is generally considered to be in earlier stages of development as compared to the more widespread Northern and Southern Vowel Shifts, although the new vowel characteristics of the California Vowel Shift are increasingly found among younger speakers. As with many vowel shifts, these significant changes occurring in the spoken language are rarely noticed by average speakers; imitation of peers and other sociolinguistic phenomena play a large part in determining the extent of the vowel shift in a particular speaker. For example, while some characteristics such as the close central rounded vowel [ʉ] or close back unrounded vowel [ɯ] for [u] are widespread in Californian speech, the same high degree of fronting for [oʊ] is common only within certain social groups. No matter the individual degree a speaker displays, the emergence of the California Vowel Shift and its spread among younger speakers point to a future form of California English which will have undoubtedly diverged significantly from other varieties.
[edit] Lexical characteristics
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The popular image of a typical California speaker often conjures up images of the so-called Valley Girls popularized by the 1982 hit song by Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa or "surfer-dude" speech made famous by movies such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High. While many phrases found in these extreme versions of California English of the 1980s may now be considered passé, certain words such as awesome and dude have remained popular in California and have spread to a national, even international, level. The use of the word like for numerous grammatical functions or as conversational "filler" has also remained popular in California English and is now found in many other varieties of English. A word that is used by many Northern California teenagers and younger adults is "hella" (from "hell of a lot of", alternatively, "hecka") to mean "many," "much," or "very".[citation needed] It can be used with countable and non-countable nouns. For example: "I haven't seen you for hella long"; or "There were hella people there"; or "That guitarist is hella good." The term is rarely used by those residing in Southern California; however, the term has gained more usage in that area, particularly with the release of the song "Hella Good" by SoCal band No Doubt.[citation needed]
California, like other Southwestern states, has borrowed many words from Spanish, especially for place-geographical names, food, and other cultural items reflecting the heritage of Latino Californians. High concentrations of various ethnic groups throughout the state have contributed to general familiarity with words describing (especially cultural) phenomena. For example, a high concentration of Asian Americans from various cultural backgrounds, especially in urban and suburban metropolitan areas in California, has led to the adoption of words like hapa (itself originally a Hawaiian borrowing of English "half"[4]). A person who was hapa was either part European/Islander or part Asian/Islander. Today it refers to a person of mixed racial heritage—especially, but not limited to, half-Asian/half-European-Americans in common California usage) and FOB ("fresh off the boat", often a newly arrived Asian immigrant). Not surprisingly, the popularity of cultural food items such as Vietnamese phở and Taiwanese boba in many areas has led to the general adoption of such words amongst many speakers.
[edit] Freeway nomenclature
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Since the 1950s and 1960s, California culture (and thus its variety of English) has been significantly affected by "car culture" — that is, dependence on private automobile transportation and the effects thereof.
One difference between California and most of the rest of the U.S. has been the way residents refer to highways, or freeways. The term freeway itself is not used in many areas outside California; for instance, in New England, the term highway is universally used. Where most Americans may refer to "I-80" for the east-west Interstate Highway leading from San Francisco to the suburbs of New York, or "I-15" for the north-south artery linking San Diego through Salt Lake City to the Canadian border, Southern Californians will typically say "the 80", "the 15", etc. Northern Californians will typically say "80", "101" to refer to freeways (some long-time San Francisco Bay Area residents still refer to such highways by name and not number designation: "the Bayshore", for 101, or "the Nimitz" for I-880, which was named for Admiral Chester Nimitz, a prominent World War II hero with strong local ties), Similarly in Southern California, people often refer to freeways not by name, but as the route number, such as "the 405" or "the 605" but when the name is used, it is often shortened and "the" is also added to differentiate it from streets with the same name. A typical example would be "Take the Ventura west, get off at Sepulveda, and make a left to get to Ventura", meaning drive west along Highway 101 (Ventura freeway), exit at the Sepulveda Blvd offramp, make a left turn and continue until you reach Ventura Blvd. Similarly, California State Route 1, which runs down the coast, is called "Highway 1" or simply "one" in Northern California, but "PCH" (for Pacific Coast Highway) in Southern California, sometimes pronounced as "peach" but much more often as "the PCH". The sequential numbering of freeway exits, common in most parts of the United States, has only recently been applied in California. Thus, most people still refer to exits by name rather than number (e.g., "take the San Mateo exit" rather than "take exit 15.")
In a related vein, when referring to the Bay Area Rapid Transit, or "BART" system located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern Californians will typically refer to "BART" (e.g., "I'm taking BART this afternoon," whereas Southern Californians add "the" (e.g., "can you take the BART to get there?").
[edit] Place names
Another common Northern California expression is the way in which Northern California residents refer to San Francisco, either by using its full name, its initials SF, or simply The City, if they live in nearby smaller suburbs, like San Mateo, or smaller cities, like Oakland or Sacramento. (The term San Fran is almost never used by residents, except in jest, much as "The Big Apple" is not typically used by native New Yorkers. However, although no less an authority than newspaper columnist Herb Caen once castigated the use of the term "Frisco", he later recanted, and the use of that term seems to be making a comeback[5].) Still, the term Frisco remains to be viewed by many San Franciscans as being vaguely derogatory. When used, it is typically employed with a sense of knowing irony. Northern California and Southern California are sometime abbreviated to "Norcal" or "Socal", respectively, although the former is used more often by outsiders than native Californians[citation needed]. Some Southern Californians will refer to Northern California as "Nocal," to emphasize perceived feelings of Southern California's superiority.
Northern Californians refer to Sacramento, the state capital, as "Sac", "Sacto", and various other nicknames. Residents of the San Fernando Valley (the section of Los Angeles to the north of the Santa Monica mountains), often use the phrase "over the hill" to refer to Los Angeles, where the San Fernando Valley itself is generally called "the Valley". Similarly, Bay Area and Sacramento residents refer to going "up the hill" in to the neighboring mountains to Lake Tahoe or Reno, Nevada and "over the hill" for crossing the Santa Cruz Mountains.
A common complaint from residents of Southern California's Orange County is the reference to the area as "the OC" instead of just as "OC" proper. Attributed to the Fox television show The O.C., the inclusion of "the" in the county's title is mainly perceived to by those from outside of the county rather than natives. Still, the influence of the show on local youth culture also seems to have made the phrasing more acceptable among residents of the area.
[edit] California sociolects and Chicano English
As a very diverse state (there is no ethnic majority in California), several significant sociolects associated with particular cultural or ethnic groups are found within California. Current and historical Mexican immigration to California has resulted in a unique form of English spoken by Chicanos in the state, with Chicano English receiving the most attention in linguistic research into sociolects in California English. Chicano English is a native variety of English marked by a historical and current Spanish substratum (whether or not the speakers in question speak Spanish). Researchers have paid particular attention to the use of "barely," representing "had just recently" which may or may not be in analogy with Spanish apenas [1]. Recently, research has shown California speakers of Chicano English have been participating in some aspects of the California Vowel Shift typically found in the speech of younger whites and Asian Americans (amongst other groups), but some of the characteristics of the shift are altered for speakers of Chicano English. [1] Some hold that some Chicano English influences may be found in the speech of non-Chicano English speakers in California, such as the presence of "yes" and "no" as tag questions (traditionally not found in most varieties of English) or the /ɪŋ/ → /iŋ/ process mentioned above [1], but such will probably not be settled without further research into the area. It should also be noted that Chicano English is by no means spoken by all Chicanos in California and the features noted as Chicano English form more of a continuum amongst speakers (some may have more Chicano English features than others) than a monolithic entity spoken the same by everyone. More work also remains to be done on various other English sociolects as spoken in California.
Chicano English
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Chicano English is a dialect of American English used by Chicanos. One major variation of Chicano English is Tejano English, used mainly in south Texas. It is mistakenly referred to as Spanglish, which is not a recognized dialect of English but rather a mixing of English and Spanish.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
• 2 Well-known speakers of Chicano English
• 3 See also
• 4 References
[edit] Phonology
Thomas Veatch's linguistic study of the surface vowel system of Los Angeles Chicano English found it to be phonologically indistinguishable from the surrounding Anglo English dialect, except for what could be termed minor features. The views that Chicanos are not really full-fledged English speakers, or even that they speak a form of English that includes features taken from Spanish, are not supported by any data. Instead, like other immigrant groups in the US, they acquire the matrix English dialect with native-speaker perfection within the first native-born generation. However, when such groups are ghettoized, living in separate, ethnically concentrated neighborhoods similarly to, at various historical times, Jews in East Manhattan, Chinese in San Francisco's Chinatown, and others, then they commonly seem to develop novel identifying features of a new ethnic dialect. Intonational features distinctive of the dialect are mentioned in Santa Ana 1991. A lowering, perhaps merger of /ɛ/ toward /æ/ in the when it precedes /l/, in words like elevator which may be pronounced with an initial syllable that rhymes with pal, has been reported. Neither of these features exist in the Spanish of the immigrant population; they were created by English speakers for their own purposes as English speakers, rather than imported through some imperfect kind of assimilation or failure of English language learning. Veatch's study used Chicano English to support his general view of accent in language, that the average phonetic realizations (in F1-F2 space) of the acoustic nuclei of the phonological vowel classes were described by several rules of phonetic implementation. Veatch also found that for Chicano English, as also found in all other English dialects that he studied, the effects of phrasal stress on the performance of vowel production, as investigated through F1 and F2 measurements, resulted in stress reduction shifts vowels in the direction of a high and somewhat front of center reduction target[1]
Cajun English
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Acadiana, the tradtitional Cajun homeland and the stronghold of both the Cajun French and English dialects.
Cajun English is the dialect of English spoken by non-Francophone Cajuns living in southern Louisiana and, to some extent, in eastern Texas. Cajun English is significantly influenced by Cajun French, the historical language of the Cajun people, a direct descendant of Acadian French, which differs somewhat from Metropolian or Parisian French in terms of pronuncation and vocabulary, particularly because of the long isolation of Acadians, and even more so Cajuns, from the Francophone world. English is now spoken by the vast majority of the Cajun population, but French influence remains strong in terms of inflection and vocabulary, and the accent is quite distinct from the General American pronunciation.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Part of the Cajun identity
• 2 Features of Cajun English
• 3 Other Examples of Cajun Vocabulary
• 4 Example Sentences
• 5 Resources
• 6 See also
[edit] Part of the Cajun identity
While Cajun French is considered by many to be an endangered language, mostly used by elderly generations, Cajun English is spoken by even the youngest Cajuns, and is considered to be part of the identity of the ethnic group.
[edit] Features of Cajun English
Cajun English distinguishes itself with some of the following features:
• Many vowels which are separate in General American English are pronounced the same way, for example, the words hill and heel are homophones, both being pronounced as /hɪɹl/.
• Stress is generally placed on the second or last syllable of a word, a feature directly inherited from French.
• The voiceless and voiced alveolar stops /t/ and/d/ often replace dental fricatives, a feature used by both Cajun English speakers and speakers of Louisiana Creole French (Standard French speakers generally render dental fricatives as alveolar).
• Cajun English speakers generally do not aspirate the consonants /p/, /t/, or /k/. As a result, the words "par" and "bar" can sound very similar.
• The inclusion of many loanwords, calques, and phrases from French, such as "nonc" (uncle, from the French oncle), "cher"(dear, pronounced /ʃæ/, from the French chér), and "making groceries" (to shop for groceries, a calque of the French faire des groceries)
[edit] Other Examples of Cajun Vocabulary
• Allons!: Let's go!
• alors pas: of course not
• faire do-do: to go to sleep
• Dis-mon la vérité! : Tell me the truth!
• quo' faire? : Why?
• magasin: store
• my eye! (also my foot!): no way!
• mais: well (This word commonly begins most sentences.)
• the frissons: the chills
• that: they; them (from the Cajun subject pronoun ça which means they them and that.
• cassé'd: drunk (This is from the Cajun adjective cassé which literally means broken but it is also used to mean drunk. French past participles being used in Cajun English add the English past tense suffix -ed.
• nèg': buddy; pal (It should be noted that this term can sometimes be considered a racial slur)
• tee': buddy; pal; Jr. From the French word "petite" which means "little".
• rôder: to "run the roads" (French verbs can also act as English verbs. English verb suffixes are added appropriately to form the correct conjugation.)
[edit] Example Sentences
• Mais, where you goin' at, you?
• Mais, where you goin' at, cher?
• Mais, where you goin' at, nèg'?
• Mais, I'm goin' make groceries, me.
• I saw Théophile at the bar the other night and he was all cassé'd.
• That /dæt/ never want to behave, that. (in reference to children) [Note: When "that" is being used in reference to more than one person, it takes the 3rd person plural verb conjugation.]
• Nonc Jean's ghost stories give me the frissons!
• Alcide's always out rôder-ing somewhere.
Maine accent
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The Maine accent is the accent used by Mainers (people who inhabit the state of Maine). Used by comedians like Tim Sample and Bob Marley to represent stereotypical Maine life, the Maine accent has a unique sound all its own. There are three dialects: those belonging to the inhabitants of Northern, Southern, and Coastal Maine. Northerners are known for having a very thick accent, the Southern being much lighter and the Coastal very diluted and subtle. The Coastal accent in particular is related to the Canadian accent.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Pronunciation
o 1.1 Examples
o 1.2 Drop-R
• 2 Some common words and phrases
o 2.1 Northern
o 2.2 Southern
o 2.3 Both
• 3 External links
[edit] Pronunciation
• Words that end in "er" are pronounced with "ah" at the end; i.e. Mainer = Mainah, far = fah, etc. (see non-rhotic)
• Words that end in "a" are often pronounced with "er" at the end; i.e. California becomes Californier, idea becomes idear, etc. (see intrusive R)
• Drop the "g" in all words ending in "ing." stopping and starting = stoppin' and stahtin', etc. (No g sound is actually dropped, as none is present in such words in General American. Rather the sound of the final consonant is changed from a velar nasal to an alveolar nasal, which is the normal sound for n. See G-dropping.)
• Broaden all "a" and "e" sounds; i.e. calf becomes cahf, bath becomes bahth, etc.
• Drag out most one-syllable words into two syllables; i.e. there becomes they-uh, here becomes hee-ah, etc.
[edit] Examples
• "I began my korea in Career."
• "The Sheer rebellion is shia madness."
[edit] Drop-R
Generally, the the Maine accent exhibits drop-R phonetics, but is not the case for every occurrence of the letter 'R.' For example, 'murdered' could be pronounced 'murdihd,' where the second 'r' and the past tense are merged together. This is dependent on how thick the speaker's accent is. Another variation is 'murdehd.'
Drop-R typically is not used if a 'u' preceeds the 'r.' For example, 'further' can be pronounced as 'furthah,' while 'farther' can be pronounced 'fahthah,' eliminating both instances of 'r.' This is not the case if the '-ur' occurs at the end of the spoken word. 'Wilbur' would be pronounced 'Wilbah' or 'Wilber,' with heavy emphasis on pronouncing the '-er' such as it were spelled 'Wilbr.'
[edit] Some common words and phrases
[edit] Northern
• Apiece: Some distance.
• Bug: Lobster.
• Finest kind: The very best around.
• Cah: A four wheel vehicle (not a truck).
• Dite: A small amount.
• Flatlandah: Someone "from away" (or from the "flatlands", specifically referring to nearby Southern New England and urbanized states like Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, etc.)
• Gahwd: God.
• Gawmy: Awkward or clumsy.
• Irregardless: Regardless, with a Maine twist
• Numbin' 'round / dubbin' aroun': Hanging out, not doing anything important
• Prayer Handle: Knee. (rare)
• Scrid: A tiny piece of something.
[edit] Southern
• Steamers (Steamahs): Clams.
[edit] Both
• Aiyuh: Yup. (This word is often spoken while breathing in. See pulmonic ingressive.)
• Chowdah: Chowder.
• Crittah (North)/Critter (South): Any small furry animal. (Also used for Lobster.) The term is also used for cattle: "beef crittah."
• Cunnin': Cute or slick in appearance or methodology. Most often said as, "Ain't that cunnin'!" (rare in South)
• Dooryard: A driveway
• From Away/Outta-statah: Not from Maine.
• Idear: Idea
• I'm tellin' you: I tell you what. Used to emphasize what is said.
• Nosah: Nope.
• Numb: Stupid.
• Pot: Lobster trap.
• Reddaway: Any roadway, derived from quickly saying the phrase "right of way."
• Wicked: Very. To a high degree; i.e. wicked good, wicked bad, etc.
• Yessah: Yes or yes sir. Rarely used is the variant 'yessahree.'
Maine-New Hampshire English
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Maine-New Hampshire English refers to the speech patterns found mainly in the northern New England states of New Hampshire and Maine. This dialect is more common in more rural parts of each state. It somewhat resembles the Boston accent (which does take precedence in areas of New Hampshire where there has been large scale immigration from Massachusetts, such as Hillsborough County), and is known for being non-rhotic in most words ending in R. "Car" often turns into "cah," and "lobster" becomes "lobstah." In words ending with -ing, the g is dropped. For example, working changes to workin. Also, in words that end in "a", an "r" is added. For example, "soder" instead of soda, "idear" instead of idea, etc.
Perhaps some of the more notable carriers of this dialect include New Hampshire celebrity Fritz Wetherbee, Maine senator Olympia Snowe, Maine comedian Tim Sample (although it is common knowledge that his accent is very exaggerated), and another Maine comedian, Bob Marley, most famous for his role as Detective Greenley in Boondock Saints.
In New Hampshire, the dialect is strongest in backwoods towns such as Rumney, Warren or Lempster. However, in the western part of New Hampshire, the dialect tends to resemble certain aspects of Western New England or Vermont speech. In the southern part of the state and in cities such as Nashua and Manchester, the Maine-New Hampshire vernacular is nearly non-existent, and most speech patterns resemble the General American or Boston dialects. Cities, especially those which were once mill cities, also have many residents of P. Quebec descent who speak a Franglais dialect. In this, the final syllable is more likely to be accented, and the "th" sound is absent, replaced by voiced "d" brudder or unvoiced "t" Jonatin. Both features have softened but are still detectable.
In Maine, the accent is more closely preserved near the coast. Residents of Friendship, Port Clyde, and Tenants Harbor, Maine, as well as the surrounding coastal fishing towns, are infamous for their thick accents. The accent of inland Maine, as opposed to the Maine seacoast, has speech patterns resembling some elements of Canadian English. Some towns, for example Augusta and Bangor, are "transitional." Generally speaking, residents of those areas who were born before 1970 maintain the accent, whereas those born later are more likely to speak with a General American dialect.
Some slang phrases include:
• Aiyah - yes, or sometimes Okay
• Wicked - very, common throughout northern New England, particularly along the Canadian Border.
• Jeezum crow- a puritanical form of the more common "Jesus Christ".
• Dirty - Cool, rarely used
• Dere - (There) added at the end of a sentence, such as, "went down to Nashua, dere," tends to be found among those of French-Canadian descent or in strongly French areas.
In addition, speakers with the accent tend to use some terms from British English which are uncommon in General American English, such as "cellar" (or "cellah") for "basement" and "supper" (or "suppah") for "dinner." However, for most words which vary between British and American English, the American version is retained, such as "gasoline," not "petrol," and "elevator," not "lift."
New Jersey English
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For a small state, New Jersey is dialectally quite diverse, with two regions of the state overlapping with other dialect areas, New York and Philadelphia, and several autochthonous dialects.
Generally, only the European American residents of areas immediately closest to New York City are New York Dialect speakers.
European Americans in much of southern New Jersey generally speak with an accent that is similar to that of Philadelphians. The southwestern section of New Jersey along the Delaware River is a suburb of Philadelphia and has large numbers of transplanted Philadelphians who moved to the growing area during Philadelphia's decline. The situation is very similar to the Northern New Jersey-New York City relationship.
The so-called North Jersey accent spoken in northern New Jersey is found in the northeast quarter of New Jersey. This is the part of the state which is in New York City's metropolitan area, including communities such as Rutherford and Rahway, but it is not part of the New York Dialect area. For instance, it is rhotic and lacks a short a split. New York City shibboleths such as hero are less used than the less regionally distinct sub (sandwich on baguette style bread). A curious example of a speaker of this dialect is the founder of variationist sociolinguistics William Labov. An exaggerated version of this accent is spoken by many characters on the television series The Sopranos, the best example being mob boss Tony Soprano (who is played by New Jersey native James Gandolfini).
The present accent of the Jersey Shore, from Cape May to Belmar, is heavily influenced by the populations of summer visitors from North Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia from which it was principally settled. However, prior to the influence of the tourism industry on the area, the situation was different. Presently the beachfront communities north of Atlantic City tend to have a heavy New York influence and those to the south have a Philadelphia influence due to the large number of residents from those areas who spend their summer "down the shore". Many residents in Ocean and Atlantic Counties have an accent that is a merge of New York and Philadelphia, and it is difficult to decipher which accent is more influential.
The "Piney" accent of the Jersey Pine Barrens and parts of the Pine Belt has a unique vowel formation of its own. "House" is pronounced [hʊːɔs] much as in today's Cape Breton accent. Some have said that it is due to lingering Dutch and Swedish features, but the heavy Irish and Scots immigration may be a factor as well.
Cape May was first a Dutch town, which is still reflected in the Dutch names of some local businesses and streets. The only road to Cape May was from Philadelphia, so Philadelphia English mixed in with the Dutch. The Cape May accent is fading away now as more residents from North Jersey, New York and Philadelphia populate the area.
Contrary to popular belief, no one in any part of New Jersey refers to their state as [dʒɒɪzi], typically written as Joisey. The pronunciation of middle vowel as [ɒɪ] instead of the standard American [ɝ] has its roots in New York English but it is only residual in the NYC dialect area as described above. Nevertheless, the use of the bare term Jersey is common in New York City, although it may also be a mistaken attempt by non-New Jersey residents to use what they believe to be the local term.
New York dialect
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The New York dialect of the English language is spoken by most European Americans who were raised in New York City and much of its metropolitan area including the lower Hudson Valley, western Long Island, and in northeastern New Jersey. It is often considered to be one of the most recognizable accents within American English (Newman 2005).
The English spoken in northern New Jersey, although often confused with that of New York City, is (outside a few cities very close to New York) actually different from the New York City dialect. Similarly, a variety of unrelated dialects are spoken in those parts of New York State outside the metropolitan area.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Macrosocial extensions
o 1.1 Geographic factors
o 1.2 Ethnic and racial factors
o 1.3 Social class factors
o 1.4 Beyond New York
• 2 Linguistic features
o 2.1 Pronunciation
2.1.1 Vowels
2.1.2 Consonants
o 2.2 Syntax
o 2.3 Lexicon
• 3 History
• 4 See also
o 4.1 External links
o 4.2 References
[edit] Macrosocial extensions
[edit] Geographic factors
The New York dialect is closely confined to the geographically small but densely populated New York City Dialect Region, which consists of the city's five Boroughs, the western half of Long Island, and the cities of Newark and Jersey City in New Jersey. However, the terms “New York English” and “New York dialect” are, strictly speaking, misnomers. The classic New York dialect is centered on middle and working class European Americans, and this ethnic cluster now accounts for less than half of the city’s population, although the same "White Flight" that reduced their numbers in the city has led to expansion of the dialect in the outlying areas to which they moved. Now, the most secure strongholds of the New York dialect are arguably the suburban areas of Nassau County, western Suffolk County, Westchester County, northeastern and southwestern Queens, and Staten Island, although some strong New York dialect speakers remain in urban sections of Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and even Manhattan. It is often claimed that the dialect varies by neighborhood or borough. In particular, many 20th-century New Yorkers have claimed to perceive a difference between Brooklyn and Bronx accents, with a Brooklyn accent being "heavier". This may be true, although no published study has found any feature that varies in this way beyond local names. Impressions that the dialect changes may also be a byproduct of class and/or ethnic variation.
[edit] Ethnic and racial factors
The variations of the New York accent are a result of the layering of ethnic speech from the waves of immigrants that settled in the city, from the earliest settlement by the Dutch and English, followed in the 1800s by the Irish and Midwesterners (typically of French, German, Irish, Scandinavian, and Scottish descent). Over time these collective influences "ganged" together to give New York its distinctive accent. [1] From the turn of the century until about 1930, predominantly Italian and Eastern European Jewish immigrants, but also later Irish and others, arrived and further affected the region's speech. Sociolinguistic research, which is ongoing, suggests some differentiation between these last groups' speech may exist, in particular Labov's (1982), finding of differences in the rate and degree of the tensing and raising of (oh) and (aeh) of Italian American versus Jewish American New Yorkers. In the NPR interview linked below, Labov talks about Irish origin features being the most stigmatized. These differences are relatively minor, more of degree than kind. All groups share the relevant features. It is possible that there are substantial differences, but like geographic differences, these have not been found.
Sam Chwat, a prominent speech therapist, shares the widely held belief of native New Yorkers that it is possible to make clear distinctions among the accents of different ethnic groups:
People talk about borough-defined New York accents, but, really, the different types of New York accents are ethnic," Mr. Chwat said. "You have the Jewish accent, as typified by Jackie Mason or Fran Drescher, the Italian accent -- Robert De Niro or Tony Danza. There's the Irish New York accent, like Rosie O'Donnell or Rudy Giuliani, "Of course he's not Irish, but he speaks with a New York Irish speech pattern". [2]
One area that is likely to reveal robust patterns is usage among Orthodox Jews, sometimes referred to as Yeshivish, for the parochial high schools members of this community attend. Such features include fully released final stops and certain Yiddish contact features, such as topicalizations of direct objects, (e.g., constructions such as Esther, she saw! or A dozen knishes, you bought!) There is also substantial use of Yiddish and particularly Hebrew words. It could be argued that such features are not characteristic of New York dialect because they exist among Orthodox Jews in other dialect regions. Still, in combination with other New York dialect features they are characteristic of a specific local ethno-religious community. There is no research, however, establishing these facts in the New York Dialect literature.
African American New Yorkers often speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE), though with some New York Dialect features, as do most children of Black Caribbean immigrants. Many Latinos speak another distinct ethnolect, New York Latino English, characterized by a varying mix of traditional New York dialect and AAVE features along with features of Portuguese and Spanish origin. There is a tendency for middle and upper middle class members of both groups to use more New York dialect features and lower income residents to use fewer. Many East Asian American and Middle Eastern New Yorkers may also speak a recognizable variety, though one much closer to standard American English. Thus, within the dialect region, the dialect is predominantly, though not exclusively, European American.
[edit] Social class factors
Nevertheless, not even all European American New Yorkers use this variety. Upper-middle class European American New Yorkers and suburban residents from educated backgrounds often speak with less conspicuous accents; in particular, many, though hardly all, use rhotic pronunciations instead of the less prestigious non-rhotic pronunciations while maintaining some less stigmatized features such as the low back chain shift and the short a split (see below).
Similarly, the children of professional white migrants from other parts of the US frequently do not have many New York dialect features, and as these two populations come to dominate the southern half of Manhattan and neighboring parts of Brooklyn, the dialect is retreating from their neighborhoods. Many teens attending expensive private prep schools are barely linguistically recognizable as New Yorkers. Nevertheless, many New Yorkers, particularly those of Southern and Eastern European descent from the middle- and working-class, retain varying degrees of what has been coined New Yorkese or Brooklynese within their daily speech.
[edit] Beyond New York
As a result of a history of social and commercial contact between the two cities, the traditional dialect of New Orleans, Louisiana bears numerous distinctive traces of influence from the New York dialect, including palatalization of the /ɝ/ vowel, a similar split in the "short a" system, and fortition of /θ/. (See below for more information on these features.) Albany, New York and to a lesser Cincinnati, Ohio also display influence from the New York City dialect.
Many Jewish-Americans, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, throughout the United States have some features of a New York accent. This is the case even among some Jewish-Americans who have never lived in New York or New Jersey. This phenomenon is somewhat parallel to the spread of African American Vernacular English to the rest of the United States from its original location in the American South. Because so many Jewish-Americans have a New York-sounding accent, some people may mistakenly believe that a New York accent is a "Jewish accent," when actually, non-Jewish White New Yorkers generally speak with the same accent. Similarly, many Mafia films, most of them set in the 1940s, show many characters speaking English with a New York accent.
[edit] Linguistic features
[edit] Pronunciation
See the article International Phonetic Alphabet for explanations of the phonetic symbols used, as indicated between square brackets []. These represent actual pronunciations. The symbols in curved parentheses () are variables, in this case historical word classes that have different realizations between and within dialects. This system was developed by William Labov. A link to a site with an example text read in various accents, including New York, can be found under external links.
New York Dialect is predominantly characterized by the following sounds and speech patterns:
[edit] Vowels
• The low back chain shift The [ɔ] vowel sound of words like talk, law, cross, and coffee and the often homophonous [ɔr] in core and more are tensed and usually raised more than in General American. This vowel is typically above [ɔ], the corresponding vowel in General American; in the most extreme New York accents, it is even higher and possesses an inglide: [ʊə]. [ɑ] in father and [ɑr] in car are tensed and move to a position abandoned by [ɔ]. The result is that car is often similar to core in parts of New England. Some words not originally from this word class, such as God, on and Bob join the [ɑ] group. This shift is robust and has spread to many non-European American New Yorkers.
• The short a split There is a class of words, with a historical "short a" vowel, including plan, class, and bad, where the historical [æ] has undergone [æ]-tensing to [eə], or, in the most extreme accents, [ɪə], accompanied by an inglide. This class is similar to, but larger than, the class of words in which Received Pronunciation uses the so-called broad A. Other words, such as plaque, clatter, and bat, indicated as [æ], remain lax, with the result that bad and bat have different vowels. A similar (but distinct) split has occurred in the dialect of Philadelphia.
• pre-r distinctions New York accents lack most of the mergers before medial [ɹ] that many other modern American accents possess:
o The vowels in marry [mæɹi], merry [mɛɹi], and Mary [meəɹi] are distinct.
o The vowels in furry [fɝi] and hurry [hʌɹi] are distinct
o Words like orange and forest are pronounced [ɑɹəndʒ] and [fɑɹəst] with the same stressed vowel as pot, not with the same vowel as port as in much of the rest of the United States.
• The General American [ɝ] and [ɔɪ] : In the most old-fashioned and extreme New York–area accents, the vowel sounds of words like girl and of words like oil both become a diphthong [ɜɪ]. This is often misperceived by speakers of other accents as a "reversal" of the "er" and "oy" sounds, so that girl is pronounced "goil" and oil is pronounced "erl"; this leads to the caricature of New Yorkers saying things like "Joizey" (Jersey) and "terlet" (toilet). This particular speech pattern is no longer very prevalent; the character Archie Bunker from the 1970's show All In The Family was a good example of a speaker who had this feature. Younger New Yorkers (born since about 1950) are likely to use a rhotic [ɝ] in bird even if they use nonrhotic pronunciations of beard, bared, bard, board, boor, and butter. Similarly, the line-loin merger is sporadically heard in New York.
[edit] Consonants
• r-lessness The traditional New York–area accent is non-rhotic; in other words, the sound [ɹ] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant. Thus, there is no [ɹ] in words like park [pɔːk] (with vowel raised due to the low-back chain shift), butter [bʌɾə], or here [hiə]. This feature is slowly losing ground, as discussed above. Non-rhoticity now happens sometimes in New Yorkers with otherwise rhotic speech if r 's are located in unaccented syllables particularly in pre-vocalic position. Non-rhotic speakers usually exhibit an intrusive or linking r, similar to other non-rhotic dialect speakers.
• Dark (l) onsets This feature has rarely been commented on but it is robust. A dark variant of (l) is used before vowels like the (l) used in most English after vowels. In other words, in New York dialect, the (l) is made before vowels with the tongue bunched towards the back of the mouth as it is after vowels. In much US English, the prevowel version has a light variant, with the tongue bunched more towards the front. In effect, this means that the beginning sound of lull and level approximates the final one.
• Dentalization (t) and (d) are often pronounced with the tongue tip touching the teeth rather than the alveolar ridge (just above the teeth), as is typical in most varieties of English. Also, these sounds become affricates (sounds with a burst and then a substantial frication, like [tʃ] (the sound frequently represented orthographically by <ch>) before r.
• (dh/th) fortition Some speakers replace the dental fricatives [θ, ð] with dental variants of stops [t, d], so that words like thing and this sound similar to "ting" and "dis". This feature is highly stigmatized and is becoming less and less frequent. However affricate pronunciations are common.
• Intrusive g. In most varieties of English, the velar nasal [ŋ], written as <ng> is pronounced as [ŋ] rather than [ŋɡ]. However, in strong versions of New York dialect, the [ɡ] is variably pronounced before a vowel as a velar stop. This leads to the stereotype of ‘’Long Island’’ being pronounced as [lʊɘŋˈɡɑɪ.lɘnd] popularly written, Lawn Guyland. Another very frequent pronunciation which does omit the [ɡ] is [lɒ͡ɐˈŋai.lənd̪] with the stress on the first syllable in Island and beginning with [ŋ], as though it were Law Ngisland.
[edit] Syntax
• Indirect questions. Word order of the original question is preserved in indirect questions, at least those introduced by wh-words, for example: He wanted to know when will he come instead of He wanted to know when he will come; or, She asked why don’t you want any instead of the standard She asked why you don’t want any.
[edit] Lexicon
There are numerous words used mainly in New York, mostly associated with immigrant languages. For instance, a "stoop" (from Dutch), is the front steps of a building entrance. A curious split in usage, reflective of the city's racial divide, involves the word punk. In the African American and Latino communities, the word tends to be used as a synonym for weak, someone unwilling or unable to defend her or usually himself or perhaps loser. That usage appears to descend from the AAVE meaning of male receptive participant in anal sex, a meaning which, in turn, may be largely lost among youth. Although this loser sense is expanding to younger European American and perhaps Asian American speakers with considerable contact with AAVE culture, an older usage, in which the term means youthful delinquent is probably still more common. Thus a newspaper article that refers to, say, some arrested muggers, as punks can have two different meanings to two different readers. Of course, the term also unambiguously means the follower of a particular musical and fashion peer cultural style (i.e. Punk rock).
One curious example of New York English is that New Yorkers stand "on line", whereas most other English speakers stand "in line". Some New Yorkers may say that they made a mistake "on accident," as opposed to "by accident".
[edit] History
The origins of the dialect are diverse, and the source of many features is probably not recoverable. Labov has pointed out that the short a split is found in southern England as mentioned above. He also claims that the vocalization and subsequent loss of (r) was copied from the prestigious London pronunciation, and so it started among the upper classes in New York and only later moved down the socioeconomic scale. This aristocratic r-lessness can be heard, for instance, in recordings of Franklin Roosevelt. After WWII, the r-ful pronunciation became the prestige norm, and what was once the upper class pronunciation became a vernacular one.
Other vernacular pronunciations, such as the dental (d)'s and (t)'s may come from contact with languages such as Italian and Yiddish. Grammatical structures, such as the lack of inversion in indirect questions, have the flavor of contact with an immigrant language. As stated above, many words common in New York are of immigrant roots.
North American English
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North American English is a collective term used for the varieties of the English language that are spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of the considerable similarities in pronunciation, vocabulary and accent between American English and Canadian English, the two spoken languages are sometimes grouped together under a single category, as distinguished from the varieties of English that are spoken in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and those in the Caribbean. Hiberno-English is used in Ireland. Despite the fact that Canadian spellings often (but not always) follow British usage, the collective term "North American English" is sometimes also used to designate the written language of the two countries.
Many terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in the two countries alone, such as "diaper", "gasoline", and "elevator". Although many English speakers from outside North America regard these words as distinctive "Americanisms", they are just as ubiquitous in Canada. Differences between American and Canadian English are somewhat more apparent in the written form, where Canadians retain much, though not all, of the standard British orthography; however, this affects less than one percent of all words regardless of the dialect in the world.
There are a considerable number of different accents within the regions of both the United States and Canada, originally deriving from the accents prevalent in different English and Scottish regions and corresponding to settlement patterns of these peoples in the colonies. These were developed and built upon as new waves of immigration, and migration across the North American continent, brought new accents and dialects to new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged and assimilated with the population. It is claimed that despite the centuries of linguistic changes there is still a close resemblance between the English East Anglia accents which would have been used by the Pilgrim Fathers and modern Northeastern United States accents. Similarly, the accents of Newfoundland is similar to Scots while Appalachian dialect retains Scots Irish features.
North Central American English
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This does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since December 2005.
North Central American English is used to refer to two dialects spoken in the Midwest United States. A fuller explanation of key distinctions of the region's speech may be found in the appropriate section of American English regional differences.
A related accent, of an adjacent region to the east, is Inland Northern American English.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Michigan and Wisconsin
• 2 Minnesota
• 3 Common features
• 4 See also
[edit] Michigan and Wisconsin
Main article: Yooper dialect
It refers to the dialect of the English language spoken most commonly in The Upper Peninsula of Michigan (UP), where it is commonly called Yooper. Although it is also spoken in parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Wisconsin and southern Ontario, Canada, its use is most prevalent in the UP.
It is common in the Upper Peninsula and in Wisconsin to append the classic Canadian "eh" to statements-turned-questions,though it is pronounced more like'hey", in place of the usual "isn't it?", "right?" or "hmmm?" (as in "You think so, hey?") — also common are "Ya know? and don't cha know?; but this tendency does not extend to statements as is frequently heard in Canada. It is also common to put a superfluous "then" at the end of sentences, and it is common to use the expression "bye now". A related expression may be a contraction of "isn't it so" pronounced "in't-so". This expression appears to be local to the region around Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.In the Southwestern Wisconsin and eastern Minnasota a "d' sound replaces the "th" sound ( Hey, what'cha doing over dere?).The "or" sounds like "ur' or "er" ( your and for sound like yur and fer).
The local dialect of the city of Milwaukee is heavily influenced by German features, resulting in certain unique constructions and phraseologies. For example, one goes "by" a destination, not "to", as in "I'm going by the store", a usage copied from the German preposition "bei". One notable (and absolutely unique) vocabulary item is "bubbler", meaning "drinking fountain". One explanation of its origin is from a child's remark at the ceremony opening of the first such public fountain in the city. However, the term "bubbler" most likely comes from the name of a water fountain design made by Kohler, the predominant maker of fountains in these areas. In the region, it is commonly used to the north in Sheboygan and in the west to Madison, although it is also found in parts of Eastern New England, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
[edit] Minnesota
The term also refers to a similar accent spoken in Minnesota, particularly in rural areas. The accent is perhaps most famous for its heavily emphasized use in the movie Fargo, although the depiction was not an entirely accurate one. (While the movie's title city is in fact located in North Dakota, it's set primarily in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.) The popular radio host Garrison Keillor has also helped to make the accent well-known. The accent itself is known for its long, monophthongal 'O' vowels, as in the words "boat", "toast", "snow" or "ghost". The sound of "a" in "that" is pronounced long, and often with acute accent. Minnesotans are stereotypically known for using "Uff da" (Norwegian, pronounced "oofda"), "yah sure" and "you betcha" in everyday conversation, but these are only used infrequently except as a self-referential joke. Another common usage is "hot-dish" instead of "casserole" (possibly from the Swedish varmrätt).
These very similar accents were heavily influenced by 19th century immigrants from Scandinavia, Finland, Germany and Poland. Many people in Minnesota, particularly those who are older and live in rural portions of the state, have a melodic way of speaking that is reminiscent of Swedish and Norwegian.
In these accents, "yah" or "ya" is frequently used instead of "yeah" or "yes" (cf. Swedish, Norwegian, German, Danish, Dutch, "ja"). The Germanic trend of replacing /ð/ with /d/ and /θ/ with /t/ is sometimes heard, including "that" becoming "dat" and the Minneapolis Northeast district sometimes, often in jest, referred to as "Nordeast."
In addition, many Minnesotans use the word "borrow" to mean both "lend" and "borrow," as in, "I borrowed him the book." This usage may be traced to Swedish or German, where the word for "lend" and "borrow" are the same (låna).
[edit] Common features
These speakers tend to leave out the object of "to go with," "to come with," and similar constructions. "You wanna come with?" is considered correct, with an implied "me" or "us" at the end (cf. German "Kommst Du mit?", Swedish "Följer du med?", Dutch "Kom je mee?"). This descends from the Germanic separable prefix verbs, which heavily influences the speech in the area. (This phenomenon has also been recorded in French-speaking areas of Belgium and Switzerland: "Vas-tu avec?".)
Inland Northern American English
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The Inland North Dialect of American English was the "standard Midwestern" speech that was the basis for General American in the mid-20th Century, though it has been recently modified by the northern cities vowel shift.
This area is centered on the Great Lakes, and consists of western New York State (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse), much of Michigan's Lower Peninsula (Detroit, Grand Rapids), Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Gary, and Southeastern Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Racine).
This map shows the approximate extent of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, and thus the approximate area where the Inland North dialect predominates. Note that the region surrounding Erie, Pennsylvania is excluded; the dialect spoken there more closely resembles that of Pittsburgh.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Characteristics
o 1.1 Phonology
o 1.2 Vocabulary
• 2 Notable Speakers of the Inland North Dialect
• 3 See also
• 4 External links
[edit] Characteristics
Many of the characteristics listed here are not unique to the region, but are found elsewhere in the United States, especially in the Midwest. Many of the characteristic pronunciations of this accent derive from the accents of the region's original immigrants. For example, the stereotypical Chicago pronunciation of "The [Chicago] Bears" is "Da Baers". Neither German nor Polish contains the consonant /ð/, so the large number of speakers of those languages who immigrated to the area approximated the sound as /d/. Note, however, that the pronunciation of "bear" is due to the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, discussed below. The Chicago accent in particular is much stronger within the city than the accent of the surrounding metropolitan region.
[edit] Phonology
As in General American, which was based on this accent, Northern Inland speech is rhotic. Also, the words "roof" and "root" may be variously pronounced with either [ʊ] or [u]; that is, with the vowel of "foot" or "boot", respectively. This is highly variable, however, and these words are pronounced both ways in other parts of the country.
• The Northern Cities Vowel Shift
Main article: Northern Cities Vowel Shift
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Inland Northern dialects, this chain shift has been occurring in six stages:
1. The first stage of the shift is the diphthongization of [æ] to [ɪə]. This results in words like "candy" being pronounced more like "kyandy."
2. The second stage is the fronting of [ɑ], which then sounds similar to the former [æ]. "Not" then sounds like "naht."
3. In the third stage, [ɔ] lowers towards [ɑ], causing "stalk" to sound more like "stock".
4. The fourth stage, the lowering of [ɛ], is not unique to this particular vowel shift.
5. During the fifth stage, [ʌ] is backed towards [ɔ]. "Stuck" sounds like "stalk".
6. In the sixth stage, [ɪ] is lowered and backed, although it is kept distinct from [ɛ]. This means that the pin-pen merger does not occur.
Note that this merger is in progress across the region, but that each subsequent stage is a result of the previous one(s), so that an individual speaker may not display all of these shifts, but no speaker will display the last without also showing the ones before it.
• The Mary-Marry-Merry Merger
Main article: Mary-marry-merry merger
This merger is widespread throughout the Midwest, West, and Canada. Words containing /æ/, /ɛ/, or /eɪ/ before an "r" and a vowel are all pronounced "[eɪ]-r-vowel," so that Mary, marry, and merry all rhyme with each other, and have the same first vowel as Sharon, Sarah, and bearing.
[edit] Vocabulary
Note that not all of these are specific to the region.
• Faucet vs. Southern spigot.
• (Peach) Pit vs. Southern stone or seed.
• Pop for soft drink, vs. East-Coastal and Californian soda and Southern coke. In parts of Eastern Wisconsin, soda is more common.
• Shopping cart vs. Southern buggy.
• Teeter totter vs. Southern seesaw.
• Tennis shoes vs. New England sneakers.
• Water fountain vs. drinking fountain.
Individual cities and regions also have their own vocabularies. For example, in Eastern Wisconsin, drinking fountains are known as bubblers, and in Cleveland the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street is called a tree lawn.
[edit] Notable Speakers of the Inland North Dialect
U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) prior to attending college, demonstrates this Mid-Western accent in her vowel pronunciation.
As she currently represents New York State, this accent endears her to upstate voters who are more likely to speak like her than Senator Charles Schumer, who is from Brooklyn.
Pacific Northwest English
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Pacific Northwest English is a dialect of the English language spoken in the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest, defined as an area that includes part of the west coast of United States and Canada, is home to a highly diverse populace, which is reflected in the historical and continuing development of the dialect. As is the case of English spoken in any region, not all features are used by all speakers in the region, and not all features are restricted in use only to the region. The dialect is very similar to General American with the cot-caught merger, and some features in common with Prairies and Californian English.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Phonology
• 3 Lexicon
• 4 Notes
• 5 Further reading
• 6 See also
• 7 External links
[edit] History
Linguists who studied English as spoken in the West before and in the period immediately after the Second World War tended to find few if any distinct patterns unique to the Western region [1]. However, several decades later, with a more settled population and continued immigration from around the globe, linguists began to notice a set of emerging characteristics of English spoken in the Pacific Northwest. However, Pacific Northwest English still remains remarkably close to the "standard American accent," which shows, for example, the cot/caught merger (although this even is not universal, especially among non-youths in the Seattle area).
Hear Pacific Northwest English
[edit] Phonology
As a variety of North American English, Pacific Northwest English is similar to most other forms of North American speech in being a rhotic accent, which is historically a significant marker in differentiating English varieties. Notable is the absence of /ɔ/, which has merged with /ɑ/ through the cot-caught merger.
• Some front vowels are raised before velar nasal [ŋ], so that the near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/ is raised to a close-mid front unrounded vowel [e] before[ŋ]. This change makes for minimal pairs such as rang and rain, both having the same vowel [e], differing from rang [ræŋ] in other varieties of English.
• The vowels in words such as Mary, marry, merry are merged to the open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ]
• Most speakers do not distinguish between the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ] and open back unrounded vowel [ɑ], characteristic of the cot-caught merger. A notable exception occurs with some speakers over the age of 60.
• Traditionally diphthongal vowels such as [oʊ] as in boat and [eɪ], as in bait, have acquired qualities much closer to monophthongs in some speakers. However, the continuing presence of slight offglides (if less salient than those of, say, British Received Pronunciation) and convention in IPA transcription for English account for continuing use of [oʊ] and [eɪ].
• [ɛ] and sometimes [æ] as [eɪ] before g.: "egg" and "leg" pronounced "ayg" and "layg".
• The Pacific Northwest also has some of the features of the California vowel shift and the Canadian vowel shift.
• /æ/ is raised and diphthongized to [eə] or [ɪə] before nasal consonants among some speakers in Portland, and in some areas of Southern Oregon. This feature is virtually absent further north, where /æ/ is tense before /g/ only.
• /æ/ is lowered in the direction of [a], although to a much lesser extent than in neighboring regions. This is more common in male speakers; female speakers may even raise it slightly. Before /g/, in the Northern Pacific Northwest it is pronounced tense, and in Portland, before /n/ it is also tense.
• /æ/ before /ŋ/ may be identified with the phoneme /e/.
• The Close central rounded vowel [ʉ] or Close back unrounded vowel [ɯ] for [u], is found in Portland, and some areas of Southern Oregon, but is generally not found further north, where the vowel is [u].
• Somes speakers have a tendency to slightly raise /ai/ and /aw/ before voiceless consonants. It is strongest in rural areas in British Columbia and Washington, and in older and middle aged speakers in Vancouver and Seattle. In other areas /ai/ is occasionally raised. This phenomenon is known as Canadian raising, or pre-fortis clipping.
• Some speakers in Eastern Washington and Oregon either perceive or produce the pairs /ɛn/ and /ɪn/ close to each other[2], resulting in a merger between "pen" and "pin."
[edit] Lexicon
Main article: Chinook Jargon use by English Language speakers
Pacific Northwest English and British Columbian English have several words still in current use which are loanwords from the Chinook Jargon, which was widely spoken throughout British Columbia by all ethnicities well into the middle of the 20th Century. Skookum, potlatch, muckamuck, saltchuck, and other Chinook Jargon words are widely used by people who do not speak Chinook Jargon. These words tend to be shared with, but are not as common in, the states of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and, to a lesser degree, Idaho and western Montana.
Pennsylvania Dutch English
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Counties of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, where Pennsylvania German and Pennsylvania Dutch English have traditionally been spoken.
Pennsylvania Dutch English is a dialect of English that has been influenced by Pennsylvania German (Pennsylvania Deitsch). It is largely spoken in the South-Central area of Pennsylvania, both by people who are monolingual (in English) and bilingual (in Pennsylvania German and English). The dialect has been dying out, as non-Amish Generation X and Generation Y Pennsylvania Germans tend to speak modern Middle Atlantic English. Very few non-Amish members of these two generations can speak Pennsylvania Deitsch, although most know some words and phrases. The WWII Generation was the last generation in which Pennsylvania Deitsch was widely spoken among the non-Amish.
[edit] Features of Pennsylvania German Influence
Pennsylvania Dutch English differs from standard American English in various ways. Some of its hallmark features include the following:
• Widespread devoicing of obstruents.
• The use of certain vowel variants in specific phonological contexts.
• The use of Pennsylvania German verb and noun stems in word construction.
• Specific intonation patterns for questions.
• Special placement of prepositional phrases in sentences (so that "Throw the horse some hay over the fence" might be rendered "Throw the horse over the fence some hay").
• The use of "ain't" and "not" as question tags.
• The use of "still" as a habitual verbal marker.
• Use of the word "yet" to mean "still," such as "do you work at the store yet?" to mean "do you still work at the store?"
• Use of terms such as "doncha know" and "so I do" or "so he does" at the end of declaratory sentences.
Other calques and idioms include:
Pennsylvania Dutch English Standard English
Make wet? Is it going to rain?
Outen the Lights. Turn off the lights.
The candy is all There is no more candy.
Red up the room. Clean the room.
It wonders me. It makes me wonder.
Hurrieder Faster
Spritzing Lightly raining
Rutsching Squirming
Schushlich Clumsy
Philadelphia accent
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Philadelphia Portal
The Philadelphia accent is the accent of English spoken in Philadelphia and extending into Philadelphia's suburbs in the Delaware Valley and southern New Jersey. It is one of the best-studied dialects of American English due to the fact that Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania is the home institution of William Labov, one of the most productive American sociolinguists. Unlike the dialects found in much of the rest of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia accent shares several unusual features with the New York accent, although it is a distinct dialect region. The Philadelphia accent is, however, in most respects the same as the accents of Wilmington, Delaware and Baltimore, constituting what Labov describes as the Mid-Atlantic dialect region.
Actual Philadelphia accents are seldom heard nationally (Philadelphia natives who attain national prominence usually make an effort to tone down or eliminate distinctive pronunciations that would sound dissonant to non-natives). Movies and television shows set in the Philadelphia region generally make the mistake of imbuing the characters with a working class New York accent (specifically heard in Philly-set movies such as the Rocky series and A History of Violence) that is unlike how Philadelphians actually speak. A contrary example is the character of Lynn Sear (played by Toni Collette) in The Sixth Sense, who speaks with an accurate Philadelphia accent.
The use of geographically inaccurate accents is also true in movies and television programs set in Atlantic City (or any other region of South Jersey), where the characters are often imbued with a supposed "Joisey" accent, when in reality the New York-influenced dialect for New Jersey natives is almost always exclusive to the extreme northeastern region of the state nearest New York City. The dialect and accent for speakers in South Jersey is vastly similar to that of Philadelphians.
The precise realizations of features of the Philadelphia accent vary to some degree among different ethnic groups, social classes, and parts of the Philadelphia region. The general phonological features of the accent, however, are as follows:
• Philadelphia is resistant to the cot-caught merger because the vowel phoneme of words like caught, cloth, and dawn is raised to a high [ɔ], increasing its distance from the [ɑ] of cot. Philadelphia shares this feature with New York and southern New England.
• On is pronounced /ɔn/, so that, as in the South and Midland varieties of American English (and unlike New York and the northern U.S.) it rhymes with dawn rather than don.[citation needed]
• The /oʊ/ of goat and boat is fronted, so it is pronounced [ɞʊ], as in the Midland and South. /aʊ/ as in house and loud is fronted as well—sometimes even more extremely, reaching as far as [ɛɔ] for some speakers. (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2006: 144, 237).
• As in New York English and Australian English, the phoneme /æ/ has split into two phonemes, so that Philadelphians have different vowels for example in mad and sad. Fewer words have the "tense" phoneme, /eə/ in Philadelphia than in New York City; for more details on both the Philadelphia and New York systems see phonemic æ-tensing in the Mid-Atlantic region.
• As in New York, Boston, and most accents of English outside North America, there is a three-way distinction between Mary, marry, and merry. However in Philadelphia some speakers have a merger of /ɛ/ and /ʌ/ before /r/ (the furry-ferry merger), so that merry is merged instead with Murray. Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 54) report that about one third of Philadelphia speakers have this merger, one third have a near-merger, and one third keep the two distinct.
• Unlike many of the urban areas of the eastern seaboard (Boston, Providence, New York, Richmond, Charleston), Philadelphia has never had non-rhoticity as a widespread feature among white speakers; however, there is some sporadic non-rhoticity found especially in South Philadelphia.
• Canadian raising occurs for /aɪ/ (as in price) but not for /aʊ/ (as in mouth) (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2006: 114-15, 237-38).
• There is a (non-phonemic) split of /eɪ/ (face) so at the end of a word (for example, day) it has an open starting point and is similar to the [æɪ] found in Australian and New Zealand English, while in any other position (for example, date) it is pronounced more like [i] (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2006: 237). Pairs of words which may be confused as a result of this development include eight and eat, snake and sneak, slave and sleeve.
• Back vowels preceding /r/ are raised: /ɔr/ as in tore is raised to the vicinity of [ur] and merges or comes close to merging with /ur/ as in tour. Behind it, /ɑr/ as in tar is raised to [ɔr].
• The word water is commonly pronounced /wʊdər/ (with the first syllable identical to the word wood).[citation needed]
• The interjection "yo," although in usage in the English language since the 19th Century, was popularized and possibly originated in Philadelphia dialect among Italian American and African American Philadelphians. Philadelphia natives are known to commonly use the interjection.
Pittsburgh English
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Pittsburgh English is a popular term for that style of American English spoken by many residents of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.
Many of the features found in the speech of Pittsburghers are popularly thought to be unique to the city, as is reflected in the term "Pittsburghese," the putative sum of these features in the form of a dialect. However, few of these features are restricted solely to Pittsburgh or the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, but instead are found throughout southwestern Pennsylvania, the North Midland dialect region, the Midland dialect region, or even large parts of the United States (Johnstone, Bhasin, and Wittkofski, 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt, 2004). Perhaps the only feature whose distribution is restricted near-exclusively to the Pittsburgh metropolitan area is /ɑw/ monophthongization, in which words such as house, down, found, or sauerkraut are pronounced with an "ah" sound instead of the more standard pronunciation of "aw."
The language of the early Scots-Irish settlers had the greatest influence on the speech of southwestern and western Pennsylvania, an influence reflected mainly in the retention of certain lexical items (cruds or cruddled milk, hap, jag, jagger, nebby, neb, neb-nose, nebshit, redd up, slippy, yinz/yunz/you’uns, "punctual" whenever and possibly "positive" anymore and reversed leave~let transitivity), but also in the like, need, or want + past participle grammatical constructions and the discourse marker ‘n’at. The dialect region of western Pennsylvania ranges north to Erie, Pennsylvania, west to Youngstown, Ohio, south to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and east to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005).
The terms Scots-Irish or Scotch-Irish are used interchangeably to refer to Scots who emigrated to Ulster, a northern province of Ireland, from the late 1600’s to mid 1700’s. Many of these settlers, or their descendants, subsequently emigrated to America. By the 1730’s, they were established in southeast Pennsylvania, especially Lancaster County. For the next thirty or so years, they radiated westward across the Alleghenies, as well as southwestward into Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee (Crozier 1984; Montgomery 1989, 2001).
Documented contributions from other languages are pierogi (Hall 2002) and kolbassi (Cassidy and Hall 1996) from Polish, babushka from Russian (Cassidy 1985), and, from German, falling intonation at the end of questions with a definite yes or no answer (Fasold 1980). Possible contributions from other languages are reversed leave~let transitivity from German (Adams 2002) and monophthongal /ɑw/ from Slavic languages (Johnstone 2002; Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2005), though these influences are openly posited as speculative.
The features described below have been documented in the speech of white Pittsburghers. There is no published research to date on African American Pittsburghers’ speech. For each feature, examples and further explanation are provided when necessary, while approximate geographic distribution and origins are provided when possible.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
• 2 Vocabulary
• 3 Grammar
• 4 Discourse and Intonation
• 5 References
• 6 External links
[edit] Phonology
• /ɑ/~/ɔ/--> /ɔ/ merger (Kurath 1961; Gagnon 1999; Layton 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Examples: cot and caught are pronounced [kɔt]; Don and dawn are pronounced [dɔn].
Further explanation: Speakers who use the /ɔ/ instead of the /ɑ/ sound round their lips and/or produce the vowel further towards the back of their mouths.
Geographic distribution: While the merger of these low back vowels is widespread in the United States, the phoneme that results from this merger is typically the more fronted and unrounded /ɑ/. In southwestern Pennysylvania, speakers display the less common realization of /ɔ/ (Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
• /ɑw/ monophthongization (Kurath 1961; Gagnon 1999; Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Examples: house is pronounced [hɑ:s]; out is pronounced [ɑ:t]; found is pronounced [fɑ:nd]; downtown is pronounced [dɑ:ntɑ:n].
Further explanation: The diphthong /ɑw/ (also rendered as /ɑʊ/) becomes the monophthong /ɑ/. The /ɑ/ sound is often depicted orthographically as “ah.” The colon after the /ɑ/ indicates that the vowel is long.
Geographic distribution: One of the few features, if not the only one, restricted near-exclusively to southwestern Pennsylvania (Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Origins: May be the result of contact from Slavic languages during the early twentieth century (Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005).
• /ɑj/ monophthongization (Kurath 1961; Gagnon 1999; Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Examples: tile is pronounced [tɑ:l]; pile is pronounced [pɑ:l]; tire is pronounced [tɑ:ɹ]; iron is pronounced [ɑ:ɹn].
Further explanation: Before /l/ and /ɹ/, the diphthong /ɑy/ (also rendered as /ɑi/ or /ɑɪ/) is monophthongized to /ɑ/. The /ɑ/ is often depicted orthographically as “ah.” The colon after the /ɑ/ indicates that the vowel is long.
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere, including the southern states (see above citations).
• Epenthetic /ɹ/ (Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Example: wash is pronounced as [wɔɹʃ].
Further explanation: Occurs after vowels in a small number of words. Sometimes also called “intrusive r.” The /ʃ/ sound is often depicted orthographically as "sh."
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere (see above citations).
• /i/~/ɪ/ and /u/~/ʊ/ tense-lax mergers (Brown 1982; Gagnon 1999; Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Examples: steel and still are pronounced [stɪl]; pool and pull are pronounced [pʊl].
Further explanation: Before the liquids /l/ and /ɹ /, the tense vowels /i/ and /u/ are laxed to /ɪ/ and /ʊ/, respectively. In standard American English, /i/ is the sound in beet, /ɪ/ the sound in bit, /u/ the sound in food, and /ʊ/ the sound in good. Finally, in contrast to the /i/~/ɪ/ merger, the /u/~/ʊ/ merger appears to be more advanced. On the /i/~/ɪ/ merger, Labov, Ash and Boberg (2005) note, "the stereotype of this merger is based only on a close approximation of some forms, and does not represent the underlying norms of the dialect."
Geographic distribution: The /i/~/ɪ/ merger is found in southwestern Pennsylvania (Brown 1982; Gagnon 1999; Layton 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006) as well as parts of the southern United States, including Alabama, Texas and the west (McElhinny 1999; Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005). On the other hand, the /u/~/ʊ/ is consistently found only in southwestern Pennsylvania (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005).
• /i/~/ɪ/ merger in eagle (Gagnon 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004).
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (see above citations).
• /l/ vocalization (Hankey 1972; Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Examples: well is pronounced something like [wɛw]; milk something like [mɪwk] or [mɛwk]; role something like [ɹow]; and color something like [kʌwɚ].
Further explanation: When it occurs after vowels, /l/ is vocalized, or "labialized,” sometimes sounding like a /w/, or a cross between a vowel and a velarized, or “dark,” /l/.
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (Hankey 1972; Layton 1999; McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006) and elsewhere, including many African American varieties (McElhinny 1999).
• /o/~/u/ and /ʊ/ merger (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005).
Examples: Polish is pronounced [pʊlish][or [pʊwish]; cold is pronounced [kʊld] or [kʊwd].
Further explanation: As the examples suggest, this merger only occurs when /o/ precedes /l/.
• /ʌ/ lowering (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005).
Example: When found is monophthongized, it might be nearly homonymous with fund. Found would be pronounced [fɑ:nd] and fund closer to this than a typical /fʌnd/.
Further explanation: While the /ʌ/ sound may sometimes sound approximately like an /ɑ/, a listener could easily distinguish between the two words by noting the length of the vowel. Labov, Ash and Boberg (2005) explain that the longest lowered /ʌ/ they encountered was shorter than the shortest monophthongized /ɑ/ they encountered. So, to speakers and listeners, the sounds are distinct.
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2005).
For information on IPA symbols used, see International Phonetic Alphabet.
[edit] Vocabulary
• babushka n. headscarf (Cassidy 1985).
Further explanation: In Russian, the word means “grandmother.”
Geographic distribution: Predominantly used in northeast U.S., Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan (see above citation).
Origins: Russian (see above citation).
• (baby) buggy n. baby carriage (Kurath 1949).
Geographic distribution: Kurath (1949) mentions that speakers in a large portion of Pennsylvania use the term, but that it is “very common in the Pittsburgh area[,]…[in] the adjoining counties of Ohio and on the lower Kanawha.”
• the 'Burgh n. Pittsburgh (Johnstone, Wittkofski and Bhasin 2002; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Geographic distribution: Pittsburgh and surrounding areas (see above citations).
• chipped ham n. very thinly sliced chopped ham loaf for use on sandwiches (Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006) (see Chip-Chopped Ham).
Example: “I like to have a chipped-ham sandwich.”
Geographic distribution: A trade-name specific to Pittsburgh and surrounding areas (see above citations).
• city chicken n. cubes of pork and/or veal on a wooden skewer which are breaded, then fried and/or baked.
Example: “We're having city chicken for dinner.”
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia (see above citations).
Origins: Not entirely known, but rumored to have begun during the Depression Era, when people took meat scraps and fashioned a make-shift drumstick out of them.
• carbon oil n. kerosene (Kurath 1949).
Geographic distribution: From the western edge of the Alleghenies to beyond the Ohio line (see above citation).
• cruds, crudded milk, or cruddled milk n. cottage cheese (Kurath 1949; Crozier 1984).
Geographic distribution: Kurath(1949) claims these forms are used from the western edge of the Alleghenies to beyond the Ohio line; and Crozier (1984) claims that they are restricted to southwestern Pennsylvania.
Origins: Scots-Irish (Crozier 1984).
• dippy adj. "anything you can dip something in—gravy, coffee, etc." (Cassidy and Hall 1991).
Example: “I like my eggs dippy.”
Geographic distribution: Pennsylvania (see above citation).
• grinnie n. chipmunk (Kurath 1949).
Geographic distribution: From the western edge of the Alleghenies to beyond the Ohio line (see above author).
• gumband n. rubber band (Cassidy and Hall 1991; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgadt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (see above citations).
• hap n. comfort (Maxfield 1931); comforter, quilt (Crozier 1984).
Examples: to mean "comfort," “He’s been in poor hap since his wife died” (Maxfield 1931); to mean "comforter, quilt," “It was cold last night but that hap kept me warm.”
Geographic distribution: hap is used for "comfort" in western Pennsylvania (Maxfield 1931); and a "quilt" is known as a hap only in western Pennsylvania (Crozier 1984).
• hoagie n. a toasted submarine sandwich (Cassidy and Hall 1991).
Geographic distribution: Used “chiefly in PA and NJ” but is “becoming more widely recognized” (see above citation or hoagie article).
• jag v. prick, stab, jab (Cassidy and Hall 1996); tease (Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Further explanation: The form is often followed by off to mean "to annoy, irritate, play tricks on; to disparage; to reject," as well as around to mean "annoy, or tease." These phrases are probably influenced by jack off and jack around, respectively (Cassidy and Hall 1986).
Geographic distribution: Chiefly Pennsylvania, especially southwestern Pennsylvania, but also portions of Appalachia (see above citations).
Origins: Scots-Irish (see above citations).
• jagger n. any small, sharp-pointed object or implement (Cassidy and Hall 1996).
Further explanation: The word applies mainly to thorns and briars, and is used as an adjective to describe bushes with thorns or briars, as in a jagger bush (see above citation).
Geographic distribution: Chiefly Pennsylvania (see above citation).
Origins: Scots-Irish (see above citation).
• kolbusy or kolbassi n. sausage (Cassidy and Hall 1996).
Further explanation: Pronounced [kolbɑsi] or [kowbasi]; is a variant of the more common pronunciation of kielbasa, which is pronounced [kiəlbɑsə] or [kɪlbɑsə].
Geographic distribution: Chiefly Pennsylvania (see above citation).
Origins: The OED (1991) lists kolbasa as a variable pronunciation of kielbasa, and notes that the former pronunciation is Polish and the latter Russian.
• jumbo n. bologna lunchmeat (Cassidy and Hall 1996; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgadt 2004, Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (see above citations).
• neb v. "to put ones 'neb' [nose] into a discourse or argument intrusively or impertinently; to pry, to nose around; hence v. phr neb out to mind one's own business"; n. busybody (Cassidy and Hall 1996).
Geographic distribution: Pennsylvania (see above citation).
• neb-nose or nebby-nose (also nebshit) n. the kind of person who is always poking into peoples’ affairs (Cassidy and Hall 1996).
Geographic distribution: Chiefly Pennsylvania (see above citation).
• nebby adj. given to prying into the affairs of others; nosy (McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004, Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Geographic distribution: Pennsylvania, especially the southwest portion of the state (see above citations).
Origins: Scots-Irish (see above citations).
• pierogie (also pirogi, padogie, pirohi, or pirotti) n. "a filled dumpling, usually boiled" (Hall 2002).
Geographic distribution: Chiefly in Polish settlement areas such as Maine, New York, Connecticut; but especially Pennsylvania (see above citation).
• redd up (also ret, rid(d)) v. "also with out; to tidy up, clean up, or out (a room, house, cupboard, etc.); to clean house, tidy up; hence v bl. redding up housecleaning; tidying up" (Hall 2002). Also see Dressman (1979); McElhinny (1999); Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson (2006).
Example: "Yinz better redd up this room."
Geographic distribution: Dressman (1979) notes that it is common to the Pittsburgh area and throughout Pennsylvania, but less so in Philadelphia. It is also scattered about New England States and in New Brunswick, though its occurrence is heaviest in Pennsylvania. Hall (2002) states that its distribution is “scattered, but chiefly N. Midland, esp PA.”
Origins: Scots-Irish (Dressman 1979).
• slippy adj. slippery (McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Example: "Be careful going down those steps because they’re real slippy."
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania (see above citations).
Origins: Scots-Irish (Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
• "punctual" whenever sub. conj. "at the time that" (Montgomery 2001).
Example: "My mother, whenever she passed away, she had pneumonia."
Further explanation: punctual descriptor refers to the use of the word for "a onetime momentary event rather than in its two common uses for a recurrent event or a conditional one" (see above citation).
Geographic distribution: In the Midlands and the South (see above citation).
Origins: Scots-Irish (see above citation).
[edit] Grammar
• "positive" anymore adv. these days; nowadays (Montgomery 1989; McElhinny 1999; Montgomery 1999)
Example: "It seems I always wear these shoes anymore."
Further explanation: While in Standard English anymore must be used as a negative polarity item (NPI), some speakers in Pittsburgh and throughout the Midland area do not have this restriction. When not used as an NPI, anymore means something like "these days."
Geographic Distribution: Midlands (Montgomery 1989).
Origins: Likely Scots-Irish (Montgomery 1999).
• Reversed leave~let transitivity (Maxfield 1931; Adams 2000; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Examples: "Leave him go outside”; “Let the book on the table.”
Further explanation: Essentially, leave is used in contexts in which, in standard English, let would be used; and vice versa.
Geographical distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere (see above citations).
Origins: Either Pennsylvania German or Scots-Irish (Adams 2000).
• like, need, or want + past participle (Murray, Frazer and Simon 1996; Tenny 1998; McElhinny 1999; Murray and Simon 1999; Montgomery 2001; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Murray and Simon 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Examples: “Babies like cuddled”; “The car needs washed”; “The cat wants petted.”
Further explanation: More common constructions are “Babies like cuddling” or “Babies like to be cuddled”; “”The car needs washing” or “The car needs to be washed”; and “The cat wants petting” or “The cat wants to be petted.”
Geographic distribution: Found predominantly in the North Midland region, but especially in southwestern Pennsylvania (Murray, Frazer and Simon 1996; Murray and Simon 1999; Murray and Simon 2002). Need + past participle is the most common construction, followed by want + past participle, and then like + past participle. The forms are "implicationally related" to one another (Murray and Simon 2002). This means the existence of one construction in a given location entails the existence (or not) of another in that location. Here’s the implicational breakdown: where we find like + past participle, we will also necessarily find want and need + past participle; where we find want + past participle, we will also find need + past participle, but we may or may not find like + past participle; where we find need + past participle, we may or may not find want + past participle and like + past participle. Put another way, the existence of the least common construction implies the necessary existence of the two more common constructions, but the existence of the most common construction does not necessarily entail existence of the two less common constructions.
Origins: like + past participle is Scots-Irish (Murray and Simon 2002). need + past participle is Scots-Irish (Murray, Frazer, and Simon 1996; Murray and Simon 1999; Montgomery 2001; Murray and Simon 2002). While Adams (2002) argues that want + past participle could be from Scots-Irish or German, it seems likely that this construction is Scots-Irish, as Murray and Simon (1999 and 2002) claim. like and need + past participle are Scots-Irish, the distributions of all three constructions are implicationally related, the area where they are predominantly found is most heavily influenced by Scots-Irish, and a related construction, want + directional adverb, as in “The cat wants out,” is Scots-Irish (Crozier 1984).
• yinz, yunz, you'uns, or youns pr. Second person plural (Crozier 1984; McElhinny 1999; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006).
Geographic distribution: Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere in Appalachia (see above citations).
Further explanation: See yinz article.
Origins: Along with the yous of New Jersey and the ya’ll of the South, yinz is Scots-Irish (Crozier 1984; Montgomery 2001).
Southern American English
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Southern American English as defined by the monophthongization of /aɪ/ to /aː/ before obstruents (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2006:126).
Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to central Texas. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects (see American English), with speech differing between regions. African American Vernacular English (AAVE) shares similarities with Southern dialect, unsurprising given African Americans' strong historical ties to the region.
The Southern American English dialects are often stigmatized (as are other American English dialects such as New York-New Jersey English). Therefore, speakers may code-switch or may eliminate more distinctive features from their personal idiolect in favor of "neutral-sounding" English (General American), though this involves more changes in phonetics than vocabulary. Well-known speakers of Southern dialect include playwright Tennessee Williams, singers Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Elvis Presley, and United States Presidents Jimmy Carter, George W Bush and Bill Clinton.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Overview of Southern dialects
o 1.1 Phonology
1.1.1 Older SAE
1.1.2 Newer SAE
1.1.3 Shared Features
o 1.2 Grammar
1.2.1 Older SAE
1.2.2 Newer SAE
1.2.3 Shared Features
o 1.3 Word use
• 2 Different Southern American English dialects
o 2.1 Atlantic
o 2.2 Midland & Highland
o 2.3 Gulf of Mexico
o 2.4 African Influenced
• 3 See also
• 4 External links
• 5 Notes
• 6 References
[edit] Overview of Southern dialects
The range of Southern dialects includes the Confederate states that seceded from the United States during the American Civil War, plus those that were divided by the conflict.
Southern dialects substantially originated from immigrants from the British Isles who moved to the South in the 17th and 18th centuries. The South was known for being largely settled by English from the West Midlands - the West Country. (The West Country dialect of Britain is also very similar to the Southern dialects.) Settlement was also made by peoples from other parts of the British isles, particularly by Protestants from Ulster and Scotland.
Others with mostly English roots usually settled along the Atlantic coast. Both strains combined with the African influences from the African Americans who were at this time enslaved in the South. Others brought accents from other cultural and linguistic traditions.
Southern dialects in some form can be found chiefly in the States of Alabama, Georgia, Northern Florida , Maryland, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, and the Ozark and Little Dixie areas in Missouri. The dialect found in the remaining rural areas of tidewater Maryland is similar to the dialect found in Virginia, and some experts have also suggested that the dialect found in two of Delaware's three counties is related to Southern.[citation needed]
There are also places in Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, and the San Joaquin Valley of California where the prevailing dialect is Southern in character or heavily Southern-influenced, due to historical settlement by Southerners. Also, the speech patterns in of the southern counties of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois - settled by Southerners and Southern Appalachians - have a predominate Southern influence rather then midwestern.
Southern dialects are also common in areas associated with the oil industry of Alaska. In the second half of the 20th-Century, concurrent with the development of the oil industry and pipeline, large numbers of Gulf Coast, Texas and Oklahoma petroleum workers moved to Alaska for high pay and adventure - and many stayed.
[edit] Phonology
Few generalizations can be made about Southern pronunciation as a whole, as there is great variation between regions in the South (see the different southern American English dialects section below for more information) and between older and younger people. Upheavals such as the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II caused mass migrations throughout the United States. Southern American English as we know it today began to take its current shape only after WWII.
[edit] Older SAE
The following features are characteristic of older SAE, and the younger a speaker is the less likely he or she is to use these features:
• Like Australian English and English English, the English of the coastal Deep South is historically non-rhotic: it drops the sound of final /r/ before a consonant or a word boundary, so that guard sounds similar to god (but the former has a longer vowel than the latter) and sore like saw. Intrusive /r/, where an /r/ sound is inserted at a word break between two vowel sounds ("lawr and order") is not a feature of coastal SAE, as it is in many other non-rhotic accents. Today only some areas like New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, and Norfolk have non-rhotic speakers (Labov, Ash, and Bomberg 2006: 47-48). Non-rhoticity is rapidly disappearing from almost all Southern accents, to a greater degree than it has been lost in the other traditionally non-rhotic dialects of the East Coast such as New York and Boston. The remaining non-rhotic SAE speakers also use intrusive r, like New England and New York City.
/ɹ/ → 0 | before /+con/
/ɹ/ → 0 | before #
• The distinction between the vowels sounds of words like caught and cot or talk and tock is mainly preserved. In much of the Deep South, the vowel found in words like talk and caught has developed into a diphthong, so that it sounds like the diphthong used in the word loud in the Northern United States.
• The distinction between /ɔr/ and /or/, as in horse and hoarse, for and four etc., is preserved.
• The wine-whine merger has not occurred, and these two words are pronounced with /w/ and /hw/ respectively.
• Lack of yod-dropping, thus pairs like do/due and loot/lute are distinct. Historically, words like due, lute, and new contained /juː/ (as RP does), but Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 53-54) report that the only Southern speakers today who make a distinction use a diphthong /ɪu/ in such words. They further report that speakers with the distinction are found primarily in North Carolina and northwest South Carolina, and in a corridor extending from Jackson to Tallahassee.
• The distinction between /ær/, /ɛr/, and /er/ in marry, merry, and Mary may be preserved by older speakers, but fewer young people make a distinction. The r-sound becomes almost a vowel, and may be elided after a long vowel, as it often is in AAVE.
[edit] Newer SAE
The following phenomena are relatively wide spread in Newer SAE, though degree of features may differ between different regions and between rural and urban areas. The older the speaker the less likely he or she is to have these features:
• The merger of [ɛ] and [ɪ] before nasal consonants, so that pen and pin are pronounced the same, but the pin-pen merger is not found in New Orleans, Savannah, or Miami (which does not fall within the Southern dialect region). This sound change has spread beyond the South in recent decades and is now quite widespread in the Midwest and West as well.
• Lax and tense vowels often merge before /l/, making pairs like feel/fill and fail/fell homophones for speakers in some areas of the South. Some speakers may distinguish between the two sets of words by reversing the normal vowel sound, e.g., feel in SAE may sound like fill, and vice versa (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2006: 69-73). The final 'l'-sound in words like fool may be elided altogether, as it normally is in AAVE.[citation needed]
[edit] Shared Features
The following features are also associated with SAE:
• /z/ becomes [d] before /n/, for example [wʌdn̩t] wasn't, [bɪdnɪs] business, but hasn't is sometimes still pronounced [hæzənt] because there already exists a word hadn't pronounced [hædənt].
/z/ → [d] | before /n/
• Many nouns are stressed on the first syllable that would be stressed on the second syllable in other accents. These include police, cement, Detroit, Thanksgiving, insurance, behind, display, recycle, and TV.
• The Southern Drawl, or the diphthongization or triphthongization of the traditional short front vowels as in the words pat, pet, and pit: these develop a glide up from their original starting position to [j], and then in some cases back down to schwa.
/æ/ → [æjə]
/ɛ/ → [ɛjə]
/ɪ/ → [ɪjə]
• The Southern (Vowel) Shift, a chain shift of vowels which is described by Labov as:
o As a result of the "drawl" described above, [ɪ] moves to become a high front vowel, and [ɛ] to become a mid front vowel. In a parallel shift, the nuclei of [i] and [e] relax and become less front.
o The diphthong /aɪ/ becomes monophthongized to [aː]. Some speakers exhibit this feature at the ends of words and before voiced consonants but Canadian-style raising before voiceless consonants, so that ride is [raːd] and wide is [waːd], but right is [rəɪt] and white is [wəɪt]; others monophthongize /aɪ/ in all contexts. The [aː]-sound tends toward an [/æː/]-sound throughout most of the region, so that word pairs like rod (SAE [raːd], normally pronounced without any noticeable rounding) and ride (SAE [ræːd]) are never confused.
/aɪ/ → [aː]
•
o The back vowels /u/ in boon and /o/ in code shift considerably forward.
o The open back unrounded vowel /ɑr/ card shifts upward towards /ɔ/ board, which in turn moves up towards the old location of /u/ in boon. This particular shift probably does not occur for speakers with the cot-caught merger.
• The distinction between /ɝr/ and /ʌr/ in furry and hurry is preserved.
• In some regions of the south, there is a merger of [ɔr] and [ɑr], making cord and card, for and far, form and farm etc. homonyms.
• The distinction between /ɪr/ and /iːr/ in mirror and nearer, Sirius and serious etc. are not preserved.
• /i/ is replaced with /ɛ/ at the end of a word, so that furry is pronounced as /fɝrɛ/ ("furreh")
• The distinction between the vowels that produce minimal pairs pour and poor, more and moor are not preserved.
• The l's in the words walk and talk are occasionally pronounced, causing the words talk and walk to be pronounced /wɑlk/ and /tɑlk/ by some southerners. A sample of that pronunciation can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/courses/linguistics/resources/socioling/talkmap/talk-nc.html.
• The phrase right here is often pronounced right 'tchere, likewise "restaurant" is pronounced "restrunt".
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Older SAE
• Zero plural-second person copula.
You [Ø] taller than Sheila
They [Ø] gonna leave today (Cukor-Avila, 2003).
• Use of a+verb+in'.
He was a-hootin' and a-hollerin.'
the wind was a-howlin.'
• The use of like to to mean something like nearly, often used in violent situations.
I like to had a heart attack.
[edit] Newer SAE
• Use of the contraction y'all as the second person plural pronoun. Its uncombined form — you all — is used less frequently. [1]
• When speaking about a group, y'all is general (I know y'all) —as in that group of people is familiar to you and you know them as a whole, whereas all y'all is much more specific and means you know each and every person in that group, not as a whole, but individually ("I know all y'all.") Y'all can also be used with the standard "-s" possessive.
"I've got y'all's assignments here."
• Y'all is distinctly separate from the singular you. The statement, "I gave y'all my payment last week," is more precise than "I gave you my payment last week." You (if interpreted as singular) could imply the payment was given directly to the person being spoken to — when that may not be the case.
• In rural Southern Appalachia yernses may be substituted for the 2nd person plural possessive yours.
"That dog is yernses."
• In some instances in Appalachia, "Your'n," "His'n" and "Her'n" takes the place of the possessive pronouns "Yours," "His" and "Hers," wherein the antecedent of the pronoun can be either singular or plural.
"Her dog is cuter than his'n."
"My drawing is better than your'n."
"That dress is her'n."
• Some Appalachian and Ozark dialects prefer you'uns, and by extension we'uns and they'uns or even 'uns used as a pronominal suffix to certain verbs. Another example is the use of the word young'uns for children.
• Use of dove as past tense for dive, drug as past tense for drag, and drunk as past tense for drink.
[edit] Shared Features
These features are characteristic of both older Southern American English and newer Southern American English.
• Use of (a-)fixin' to as an indicator of immediate future action.
He's fixin' to eat.
We're a-fixin' to go.
• Use of double modals (might could, might should, might would, used to could, etc.) and sometimes even triple modals that involve oughta or a double modal (like might should oughta, or used to could be able to.)
I might could climb to the top.
• Addition of adverbs here or there after this or that.
Johnny, fetch me that there hammer.
• Deletion of have/had.
That school been there a long time (Cukor-Avila, 2003).
This have/had deletion seems to be related to a few other issues.
•
o Use of done instead of have in perfect constructions (perfective done.)
He done come up here.
I done told you.
•
o Replacement of have (to possess) with got.
I got one of them.
•
o Use of ain't (a contraction of am not) in place of "have not" in past perfect constructions.
I ain't goin' there.
• Using them as a demonstrative adjective replacing those
See them birds?
• Use of irregular preterits, Such as drowneded as the past tense of drown, knowed as past tense of know, degradated as the past tense of degrade, and seen replacing saw as past tense of see. This also includes using was for were, or in other words regularizing the past tense of be to was.
You was sittin' on that chair.
• Use of unmarked verb preterits. Not marking come for tense is on the decline.[citation needed]
They come in here last night.
• Multiple negation — namely, all elements that can be negated in one C-commanded structure are negated (Standard English allows only negation of the first negatable element).
I don't buy nothing.
I don't never buy nothing.
• The inceptive get/got to (indicating that an action is just getting started). Get to is more frequent in older SAE, and got to in newer SAE.
I got to talking to him and we ended up talking all night.
• Replacement of the Negative Polarity item any with no or none in Declarative sentences.
I ain't got no time
I don't see none/nothing.
• Regularization of negative past tense do to don't, or in other words using don't for doesn't.
He/she/it/John don't like cake.
• Existential It, a feature dating from Middle English which can be explained as substituting it for there when there refers to no physical location, but only to the existence of something.
It's one lady that lives in town.
• Preservation of older English me, him, etc. as reflexive datives.
I'm fixin' to paint me a picture.
He's gonna catch him a big one.
• Merging of adjective and adverbial forms of related words (quick/quickly), generally in favor of the adjective.
He's movin' real quick.
• Adverbial use of right to mean quite or fairly.
I'm right tired.
[edit] Word use
• Word use tendencies from the Harvard Dialect Survey [2]:
o Likely influenced by the dominance of Coca-Cola in the Deep South, a carbonated beverage in general is referred to as coke, or cocola, even if referring to non-colas. Soda is rarely used, and in parts of West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia the word "pop" is used instead.
o The use of singular nouns as if they were plural as in, "Pass me those molasses." or "Did you get your license?....Yes, I got them."
o The push-cart at the grocery store as a buggy (or less often, jitney or trolley).
o The small freshwater crustacean in lakes and streams as a crawdad, crawfish, or crayfish depending on the location (note: the pronunciations of crawfish and crayfish can be inverse to the spelling; i.e. crawfish pronounced as though it were spelled crayfish and vice versa)
• Use of the term "mosquito hawk" or "snake doctor" for a dragonfly or a crane fly (Diptera Tipulidae).[3]
• Use of "over yonder" in place of "over there" or "in or at that indicated place," especially when being used to refer to a particularly different spot, such as in "the house over yonder." Additionally, "yonder" tends to refer to a third, larger degree of distance beyond both "here" and "there," indicating that something is a long way away, and to a lesser extent, in an open expanse, as in the church hymn "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder." (The term "yonder" is still widely used in British English.)[4]
This section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since November 2006.
• Use of the verb "reckon" to mean "perceive" or "think". For example "I reckon there's a chance of rain" or "I reckon I want to go fishin'". The term "reckon" is also still widely used in British English.
• Use of "to love on someone or something" in place of "to show affection to" or "be affectionate with someone or something." For example: "He was lovin' on his new kitten."
• Use of the word "mash" in the place of "press" or "push". Example: "Would you mash that elevator button for me?"
• Use of the word "carry" in the place of "drive". Example: "Would you carry me in your car to the store?"
• The use of the word "cut" rather than "turn" on/off lights in a house or car, as in, "cut the lights on for me"
• Use of the word "young'un" instead of "child" or "kid".
• Use of the word "tote" instead of "carry". Example: "Tote that bucket over to me."
• Use of archaic "hit" for "it."
• Use of the verb "to tump over," meaning "to tip over so that the contents spill out."
• Use of the verb "to chuck" or "to chunk" for "to throw."
• Use of the word "proud" to mean "happy" or "pleased" as in, "I was real proud to meet y'all."
• In Kentucky and East Tennessee, "I don't care to do that" carries the connotation that the speaker is willing to do something for another person (despite the seeming contradictory meaning, which may stem from the idea of "It does not cause me care [or worry] to do that for you.") For example, if Person A said, "I need a ride to the post office," Person B's response of "I don't care to take you" indicates a willingness to do so.
[edit] Different Southern American English dialects
In a sense, there is no one dialect called "Southern". Instead, there are a number of regional dialects found across the Southern United States. Although different "Southern" dialects exist, speakers of each can still understand each other perfectly.
[edit] Atlantic
• Virginia Piedmont
The Virginia Piedmont dialect is possibly the most famous of Southern dialects because of its strong influence on the South's speech patterns. Because the dialect has long been associated with the upperclass or aristocratic plantation class in the South, many of the most important figures in Southern history spoke with a Virginia Piedmont accent. Virginia Piedmont is non-rhotic, meaning speakers pronounce "R" only if it is followed by a vowel (contrary to New York City English, wherein non-rhotic accent is now mostly used by middle- and lower-class speakers). The dialect also features the Southern drawl (mentioned above).
• Coastal Southern
Coastal Southern resembles Virginia Piedmont but has preserved more elements from the colonial era dialect than almost any other region of the United States. It can be found along the coasts of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. It is most prevalent in the Charleston, South Carolina area. In addition, like Virginia Piedmont, Coastal Southern is non-rhotic.
• Baltimorese
Baltimorese, sometimes phonetically written Bawlmerese, is a dialect of American English which originated among the white blue-collar residents of southern Baltimore. Today, it is heard throughout the city and in some areas of central Maryland, in the Mid-Atlantic States, though its "native speakers" remain overwhelmingly white and working class. It shares many characteristics of other types of Southern speech, as might befit a port city of a border state. The films of John Waters, all of which have been filmed in and around Baltimore, usually feature actors and actresses with thick Baltimore accents, particularly in his early films. In the accent, the words Baltimore and towel would be pronounced Bawlmer and tail. The majority of Baltimore natives now speak a variety of the Philadelphia accent, which is Midland and not Southern.[citation needed]
[edit] Midland & Highland
• South Midland or Highland Southern
This dialect arose in the inland areas of the South. It shares many of the characteristics of dialects of the Appalachians and Ozark Mountains. The area was settled largely by Scots-Irish, Scottish Highlanders, persons from the North and Western Parts of England and Wales, and Germans.
This dialect follows the Ohio River in a generally southwesterly direction, moves from Kentucky, across Missouri and Oklahoma, and peters out in western Texas. This is the dialect most associated with truck drivers on the CB radio and country music. It has assimilated some coastal Southern forms, most noticeably the loss of the diphthong /aj/, which becomes /aː/, and the second person plural pronoun "you-all" or "y'all". Unlike Coastal Southern, however, South Midland is a rhotic dialect, pronouncing /r/ wherever it has historically occurred.
• Southern Appalachian
Due to the isolation of the Appalachian regions of the South, the Appalachian accent is one of the hardest for outsiders to understand. This dialect is also rhotic, meaning speakers pronounce "R"s wherever they appear in words, and sometimes when they do not (for example "worsh" for "wash.")
The Southern Appalachian dialect is, among all the dialects of American English, the one most closely related to the Scottish dialect of English (see also Scots language and Ulster Scots language). The dialect can be heard, as its name implies, in North Georgia, North Alabama, East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, Southwestern Virginia, and West Virginia. Southern Appalachian speech patterns, however, are not entirely confined to these mountain regions previously listed. For instance, there are places in Georgia far from the mountains where among the white population, the manner of speech is indiscernable from the speech spoken in the North Georgia mountains — for instance Glascock County and Jefferson County in the east central part of the state.
The common thread in the areas of the South where a rhotic version of the dialect is heard is almost invariably a traceable line of descent from Scots or Scots-Irish ancestors amongst its speakers. The dialect is also not devoid of early influence from Welsh settlers, the dialect retaining the Welsh English tendency to pronounce words beginning with the letter "h" as though the "h" were silent; for instance "humble" often is rendered "umble".
A popular myth claims that this dialect closely resembles Early Modern or Shakespearean English. [1] Although this dialect retains many words from the Elizabethan era that are no longer in common usage, this myth is largely apochryphal. [2]
• Ozark
This dialect developed in the heart of the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri and northwest Arkansas. It is similar to Appalachian dialects but also has some Midwestern influences. This dialect is riddled with colorful expressions, and is frequently lampooned in popular culture, such as the television comedy The Beverly Hillbillies.
• Cracker
The dialect is derived from the South Midland dialect, and found throughout several regions of Florida and in south Georgia. There are several different variations of the dialect found in Florida. From Pensacola to Tallahassee the dialect is non-rhotic and shares many characteristics with the speech patterns of southern Alabama. Another form of the dialect is spoken in northeast Florida, North Central Florida and the Nature Coast. This dialect was made famous by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' book the Yearling. However the dialect begins to disappear once in the outskirts of Orlando and Tampa or on the Atlantic coast south of Jacksonville. However there are some isolated pockets of the cracker dialect in rural Central Florida and a large pool of speakers in the agricultural counties around Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.
The dialect also has some distinct words to it. Some speakers may call a river turtle a "cooter", a land tortoise a "gopher", a bass a "trout", and a crappie fish a "speck".
[edit] Gulf of Mexico
• Gulf Southern & Mississippi Delta
This area of the South was settled by English speakers moving west from Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas, along with French settlers from Louisiana (see the section below). This accent is common in Mississippi, northern Lousiana, southern and eastern Arkansas, and western Tennessee. Familiar speakers include Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. A dialect found in Georgia and Alabama has some characteristics of both the Gulf Southern dialect and the Virginia Piedmont/Coastal Southern dialect.
• Cajun
Louisiana, southeast Texas ( Houston to Beaumont ), and coastal Mississippi, feature a number of dialects. There is Cajun French, which combines elements of Acadian French with other French and Spanish words. This dialect is spoken by many of the older members of the Cajun ethnic group and is said to be dying out. Many younger Cajuns speak Cajun English, which retains Acadian French influences and words, such as "cher" (dear) or "nonc" (uncle). The French language can also still be heard in Louisiana, along with different mixtures of all of these dialects and languages.
• Creole
Louisiana Creole French (Kreyol Lwiziyen) is a French-based creole language spoken in Louisiana. It has many resemblances to other French creoles in the Caribbean. While Cajun French and Louisiana Creole have had a significant influence on each other, they are unrelated. While Cajun is basically a French dialect with grammar similar to standard French, Louisiana Creole applies a French lexicon to a system of grammar and syntax which is quite different from French grammar..
• Yat
Around New Orleans, you can hear an accent similar to that of Atlantic coast cities such as New York, Philadephia, and Baltimore. It is referred to as Yat, from the phrases such as "Where y'at?" for "How are you?" However, Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, and its resultant mass evacuation of New Orleans and other areas along the Mexican Gulf has further endangered the preservation of these dialects.[citation needed]
[edit] African Influenced
Although African influences are common in all strains of Southern Dialects, especially Creole, the following dialects were most influenced by African languages.
• Gullah
Main article: Gullah language
Sometimes called Geechee, this creole language originated with African American slaves on the coastal areas and coastal islands of Georgia and South Carolina. The dialect was used to communicate with both Europeans and members of African tribes other than their own. Gullah was strongly influenced by West African languages such as Vai, Mende, Twi, Ewe, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and Kikongo. The name and chorus of the Christian hymn "Kumbaya" is said to be Gullah for come by here. Other English words attributed to Gullah are juke (jukebox), goober (Southern term for peanut) and voodoo. In a 1930s study by Lorenzo Dow Turner, over 4,000 words from many different African languages were discovered in Gullah. Other words, such as yez for ears, are just phonetic spellings of English words as pronounced by the Gullahs, on the basis of influence from Southern & Western English dialects.
• African American Vernacular English
Main article: African American Vernacular English
This type of Southern American English originated in the Southern States where Africans at that time were held as slaves. These slaves originally spoke indigenous African languages but were forced to speak English to communicate with their masters and each other. Since the slave masters spoke Southern American English, the English the slaves learned, which has developed into what is now African American Vernacular English, had many SAE features. While the African slaves and their descendants lost most of their language and culture, various vocabulary and grammatical features from indigenous West African languages remain in AAVE. While AAVE may also be spoken by members of other ethnic groups, it is largely spoken by and associated with blacks in many parts of the U.S. AAVE is considered by a number of English speakers to be a substandard dialect. As a result, AAVE speakers desiring social mobility typically learn to code-switch between AAVE and a more standardized English dialect.
Utah English
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Utah English, sometimes humorously referred to as "Utahnics", is a dialect of the English language spoken in the U.S. state of Utah. Influences are as varied as ancestries of its immigrants, from Scottish to Mexican Spanish. Since the field of sociolinguistics is relatively new to academia, very little research has been done on the dialect. However, a research team at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah has begun a comparative project on the topic.[1]
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Distinctions of the dialect
o 1.1 Vowel shifts
o 1.2 Introduction, removal, and morphing of stops and plosives
• 2 Changes
• 3 References
[edit] Distinctions of the dialect
[edit] Vowel shifts
• The merger of [oʊ] and [ʊ] to [ʊ] before [ɫ], making pairs like the following homophonous (the second word in the pair is pronounced like the first):
o bowl / bull
o foal / full
o foley / fully
o Folsom / fulsome
o poll, pole / pull
o polar / puller
• Further diphthongization (splitting one sound into two) of [ɛ] as [ɛɪ]: "egg" and "leg" are pronounced "ayg" and "layg", "leisure" and "pleasure" pronounced "layzhur" and "playzhur."
• The merger of /ɑr/ and /ɔr/, such that "born" may be pronounced "barn" and the town of "American Fork" becomes "American Fark."
[edit] Introduction, removal, and morphing of stops and plosives
• Introduction of a "T" into certain words: "teacher" pronounced "teat-chur;" "preacher" as "preat-chur;" other examples include between the sounds "L" and "S" ("Nelson" and "Wilson" pronounced as "Neltson" and "Wiltson").
• Shortening of some words from several syllables to one or two (different from general consonant cluster reduction): "corral" as "crall", "probably" to "probly" or "prolly."
• the final "T" is frequently voiced as a glottal stop: "cute" becomes [cuʔ] and "late" becomes [laʔ]. Non-native speakers often have trouble distinguishing between the local pronunciation of words like "can" and "can't". The same also applies to the letter "T" in the middle of a word such as "mountain," "button," or the Northern Utah town of "Layton;" the "T" is replaced with a glottal stop (becoming, roughly, "mahw-uhn," "buh-uhn," or "Lay-uhn"). (This is possibly the most widespread element of the dialect.)
[edit] Changes
The unique pronunciations of the dialect, as is typical of American accents, are most marked in the speech of rural and older residents. Much of the state continues to move towards the General American accent (due in large part to immigration and technological/communication advances within the last fifty years, specifically the ubiquity of the television). More extreme elements of traditional "Utahnics" are sometimes used sarcastically by teenagers, in jest of the "older" accent; for example, "fer cute" or an exaggerated "see-ick" (for "sick") may be observed, especially among teenage females.
Yat (New Orleans)
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Yat refers to a unique dialect of English spoken in New Orleans, Louisiana. The term also refers to those people who speak with a Yat accent. The name comes from the common use amongst said people of the greeting, "Where y'at?" (Where you at?), which is a way of asking, "How are you?" The Yat dialect sounds similar to that of Brooklyn, New York natives, with influences from Louisiana Creole French and Southern American English. While the term Yat is usually reserved specifically for the strongest varieties of the New Orleans dialect within the city, the term often refers specifically to speakers of Yat, outside of the city proper, and around the rest of Louisiana, it is often used as a colloquial demonym for any person from New Orleans.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Local Variance
• 3 Linguistic features
o 3.1 Pronunciation
o 3.2 Lexicon
• 4 New Orleans accent in popular conception
• 5 Notes
• 6 References
• 7 External links
[edit] History
The origins of the accent are described in A. J. Liebling's book, The Earl of Louisiana, in a passage that was used as a forward to John Kennedy Toole's well-known posthumous novel about New Orleans, A Confederacy of Dunces:[1]
“ There is a New Orleans city accent . . . associated with downtown New Orleans, particularly with the German and Irish Third Ward, that is hard to distinguish from the accent of Hoboken, Jersey City, and Astoria, Long Island, where the Al Smith inflection, extinct in Manhattan, has taken refuge. The reason, as you might expect, is that the same stocks that brought the accent to Manhattan imposed it on New Orleans.[2]
”
Historically, New Orleans was home to people of French, Spanish, and African heritage, which led to the creation of the Louisiana Creole language. The city came under U.S. rule in the Louisiana Purchase, and over the course of the 19th century, the dominant language of New Orleans gradually became non-rhotic English. An influx of Irish, Italian, and German immigrants during the 19th century, along with the city's geographic isolation, led to the creation of a new local dialect.
It is a common misconception that that the local dialect of New Orleans is Cajun. While certain Cajun words, such as jambalaya, have been incorporated into the vocabulary of Southern Louisiana, Cajun culture has had relatively little influence upon Yat. The confusion of the Cajun culture of Southern Louisiana with the Creole culture of New Orleans is largely due to the merging of these French cultures by the tourism industry.
This distinctive accent is dying out generation by generation in the city but remains very strong in the surrounding Parishes. However, Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, and its resultant mass evacuation of New Orleans and other areas along the Mexican Gulf has further endangered the preservation of these dialects.[citation needed]
[edit] Local Variance
The Yat dialect is the most pronounced version of the New Orleans Accent. Natives often speak with varying degrees of the Brooklyn-esque accent, ranging from a slight intonation to what is considered full Yat. As with all dialects, there is variance by local speakers due to geographic, ethnic, racial, and social factors. This results in many different levels of Yat throughout the city, marking distinct differences between higher-income people, lower-income whites, lower-income African-Americans, and Creoles. African-American varieties of Yat have been significantly influenced by African American Vernacular English. Yat tends to differ in strength and intonation from neighborhood to neighborhood, regardless of race.
Longtime New Orleans residents can often tell what New Orleans neighborhoods other residents are from by their accent. Speakers of this dialect originated in the Ninth Ward, as well as the Irish Channel and Mid-City. While some remain there, most have moved to the suburbs of St. Bernard Parish, such as Arabi, Chalmette, Meraux, and Violet, as well as to the suburbs of Jefferson Parish, such as Gretna, Marrero, and Westwego. Slighter intonations of the dialect can be heard throughout the city, and the suburbs of Metairie and Kenner. As with many sociolinguistic artifacts, the dialect is usually more distinct among older members of the population.
[edit] Linguistic features
[edit] Pronunciation
There are also numerous phonological differences between words pronounced in the dialect and their standard equivalents. This most often occurs in the form a stress-shift towards the front of a word (i.e. 'insurance', 'ambulance' as ['inʃuɻəns], ['æmbjə'læns]), or in the form of a change in vowel quality. Some of the most distinct features are:
• the rounding and lowering in some cases of /a/ and /ɔ/ to [ɔʷ] (i.e., 'God,' 'on,' 'talk', become [gɔʷd], [ɔʷn], [tɔʷk])
• the loss of rhoticization on syllables ending in /ɻ/ (i.e. 'heart,' fire' become [hɔʷt], ['fajə])
• the full rhotacization of a syllable-internal /ɔj/ (i.e. 'toilet,' 'point' become ['tɝlɪt], [pɝnt]). This feature is more typical in men than in women.
• the loss of frication in the interdental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ (i.e. 'the,' 'there,' 'strength' become [də], ['dæə], [ʃtɻejnt])
• the substitution of /ɪn/ or /ən/ (spelled -in, -en) for /ɪŋ/ (spelled -ing)
• the split of the historic short-a class into tense [eə] and lax [æ] versions, as well as pronunciation of cot and caught as [kɑt] and [kɔt]
• the coil-curl merger of the phonemes /ɔɪ/ and /ɝ/, creating the diphthong [ɜɪ], before a consonant, although this feature has mostly receded
And then there are words which can be pronounced differently, yet according to no particular pattern: 'lunch' [lɝntʃ], 'corner' ['kɔʷndə], 'sink' [zink], 'orange' [ɝndʒ], 'room' [ɻʊm], 'mayonnaise' ['mejnæz], 'museum' [mju'zæm], 'ask' [æks], just to name a few examples.
New Orleans is pronounced [nə'wɔʷlɪnz], [nə'wɔʷlijənz] or with the /ɻ/ still intact. The 'Nawlins' [nɔlɪnz] of the tourist industry and the common [nuwɔɻ'linz] are not to be heard among natives. Louisiana is pronounced as the standard [lu'wiziænə] or a slightly reduced [lə'wiziænə], but never as ['luziænə].
[edit] Lexicon
• Algerine or Algereen - a person from Algiers, New Orleans (Still common in Algiers, but now less common in other sections of the city except with older speakers)
• Alligator Pear - an avocado
• anyways - and, so; and, then
• Arabian - a person from Arabi in St. Bernard Parish
• banquette - the sidewalk (by now rarely heard except from some elderly)
• beignet - (IPA:['bɛnjej]) a type of French doughnut, it is fried and has a lot in common with the sopaipilla. Typically served with coffee or café-au-lait, they can be found at Cafe du Monde and other cafés throughout the city.
• brake tag - an inspection sticker on your car
• brah or bruh - common form of address for men, as in "Say brah," or "How ya do bruh?"
• bobo - a wound or bruise
• boo - A term of endearment, often used by parents and grandparents.
• by [location] - to be at or in someplace; a replacement for "at" or "to" when referring to a destination or location
• cap - "sir"; a form of address between men who are usually unacquainted; from "captain"
• Chalmatian - someone from Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish
• charmer - a female Yat
• chief - a term of address used among men
• cold drink - a soft drink
• creole - this has come to be less of a specifically ethnic or linguistic term, but now is more of a general term applied to an item of New Orleans culture or cooking, such as creole tomatoes or creole seasoning
• dawlin - a term used by women as a form of address, or by men towards women. Differs from the Deep South 'dahlin' in that the vowel is very rounded.
• doubloon - a coin thrown out by Mardi Gras krewes
• dressed - to have condiments on a Po-boy, burger, or any other sandwich; typically lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and sometimes pickles
• esplanade - (IPA:['ɛsplənejd]) a walkway, also a type of undershirt
• faubourg - (IPA:['fabɔʷg]) a suburb or neighborhood, used in context of a particular area such as Faubourg Bouligny (This is no longer used as a common noun)
• flying horses - a merry-go-round, or specifically the merry-go-round in City Park
• fa sho - for sure, a statement of agreement
• fa true - for true, a statement of truth
• go cup - a paper or plastic cup for consuming alcoholic beverages on the go, usually in public
• gout - French for "taste", usually in the context of coffee
• grip - a small overnight bag, schoolbag, or suitcase
• grippe - the flu
• gris-gris - a Voodoo spell, either malicious or for protection (now rare other than in tourism pamphlets and some people who actually practice certain types of voodoo)
• heart - identical in meaning and usage to dawlin', and also pronounced with a severely rounded vowel
• hickey - a knot or bump on one's head
• house coat 'n' curlas - many middle to lower class yat women wear a robe and have their hair in curlers while out shopping, especially for groceries
• indicator - a turning signal on a car, also called a 'blinker'
• inkpen - a ball-point or any type of pen
• jambalaya - a rice-based Cajun dish
• K&B Purple - the distinctive shade of purple used by the defunct New Orleans-based drug store, K&B
• lagniappe - (IPA:['lænjæp]) a little something extra
• locker - a closet
• looka - imperative form of the verb "to look"
• make dodo - sleep, or go to sleep; from the Cajun French "fais do do"
• make groceries or makin' groceries - to go grocery shopping; this phrase probably originated from the French expression for grocery shopping, "faire le marché"
• Mardi Gras - a city wide pre-Lenten celebration, literally "Fat Tuesday"
• marraine - (IPA: [mə'ræn]) one's godmother
• maw-maw - one's grandmother
• mirliton - a chayote
• mosquito hawk - a dragonfly
• muffuletta - (IPA: [mʊfə'laɾə]) a famous Italian New Orleans sandwich, invented at Central Grocery
• nanny or nannain - one's godmother, same a marraine
• neutral ground - a street median
• over by [location] - to be at or in someplace; a replacement for "at" or "to" when referring to a destination or location
• parish - a state administrative district equivalent to a County (United States) in the rest of the United States; da parish usually refers specifically to St. Bernard Parish
• parraine or parran - (IPA:[pə'ræn]) one's godfather
• passion mark - a hickey
• po-boy - (IPA:['pɔʷbɔj], ['poʷbɔj]) a New Orleans submarine sandwich, made on French bread in many varieties; some of the most popular are hot roast beef and fried shrimp
• praline - (IPA:['prɔʷlin], ['pralin], never ['prejlin]) a New Orleans confection made with pecans, sugar syrup, and cream
• regular coffee - coffee with sugar and milk; not black coffee
• Schwegmann's bag or Schwegmann bag - a unit of measurement; refers to the large brown paper bags which extinct local New Orleans grocery chain Schwegmann Brothers Giant Supermarkets packed groceries
• the show - the movies
• snowball - a frozen treat similar to a sno-cone, but made of 'shaved ice' and not crushed ice. A snowball stand will have 30 or more flavors, not counting 'cream' flavors (contains evaporated milk mixed in).
• to pass by - to stop and visit someplace, such as a person's house
• shotgun house - a style of architecture found all over the city. In the French style of planning, plots of land along a river are long and thin, so the houses also came to be long and thin. A shotgun house typically has a living room followed by a bedroom followed by a kitchen followed by another bedroom.
• suck the head, squeeze the tip or suck the head, squeeze the tail - a phrase that describes the local technique for eating crawfish
• throw me somethin', mista! - the traditional phrase yelled out to passing floats during Mardi Gras
• valise - a suitcase (used only by a few elderly people)
• Violation - a person from Violet, Louisiana in St. Bernard Parish (not used in practice)
• Where Y'at - the traditional New Orleans greeting; equivolent to "what's up?" or "how are you?"
• Wutzapnin - another New Orleans greeting drived from "What is happening?"
• y'all - "you" (plural)
• ya' boy / ya' girl - used to identify someone (any random person)
• ya'mom'n'em* - "your mom and them" meaning your family
• yeah, you right - New Orleans equivalent to "yes, I see your point"
[edit] New Orleans accent in popular conception
The characters "Vic & Nat'ly" by local cartoonist Bunny Matthews are stereotypical Yats.
The distinct New Orleans dialect has been depicted in many ways throughout the city and America.
The main character of the cartoon strip Krazy Kat spoke in a slightly exaggerated phonetically-rendered version of early-20th Century Yat; friends of the New Orleans-born cartoonist George Herriman recalled that he spoke with many of the same distinctive pronunciations.
Benny Grunch and the Bunch recorded an album known as the 12 Yats of Christmas, which is one of the truest expressions of Yat language and culture. The songs explain much of the local customs and traditions of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, but perhaps raise as many questions as they answer for outsiders, due to the fact that the lyrics are mostly in Yat. The local CBS affiliate, WWL-TV Channel 4 usually broadcasts videos of the songs during the Christmas holidays during their evening newscasts and via the station's website.
Actual New Orleans accents were long seldom heard nationally (New Orleanians who attained national prominence in the media often made an effort to tone down or eliminate the most distinctive local pronunciations). Movies and television shows set in New Orleans generally make the mistake of imbuing the characters with a generic "Southern" accent, a "Gone With the Wind" accent, or a Cajun accent (primarily heard in Southwest Louisiana, not in the city), much to the amusement or annoyance of New Orleanians. The national attention the city received from the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 gave many people from elsewhere in the nation a chance to hear people speaking with New Orleans accents for the first time.
Yooper dialect
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This article has been tagged since December 2005.
Yooper is a form of North Central American English mostly spoken in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which gives the dialect its name (from UP for Upper Peninsula). The dialect is also found in most northern areas of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and northern portions of Wisconsin.
Yooper differs from standard English primarily due to the linguistic background of settlers to the area. The majority of people living in the Upper Peninsula are of either Finnish, Flemish, Scandinavian, or German descent. Yooper is so massively influenced by these languages that speakers from other areas may have difficulty understanding it. The Yooper dialect is also influenced by the Finnish language making it similar in character to the so-called "Rayncher speek" of the Mesabi Iron Range in northeast Minnesota.
[edit] Differences between Yooper and standard English
Ethnic makeup of the USA in 2000. The western part of Upper Peninsula is the only region in the U.S. where Finnish Americans (light green) form the plurality.
• Canadian raising
• "roof", "book", and "root" all use the same vowel.
• "caught" and "cot" are pronounced in exactly the same way ('kät).
• Use of German/Scandinavian "ja" as an affirmative filler or emphatic; the standard American English "yes" is used to answer questions and to start an explanation.
• Tendency towards a "sing-song" intonation. The area's earliest European settlers were primarily Scandinavian, and this has influenced the local dialect. More recently, this has been reinforced by an influx of Asian immigrants, most of whom speak tonal languages.
• W becomes V, particularly well to vell and what to vaht, as in German pronunciation. This feature appears to be found mostly in people born before 1970. This feature is possibly found in some regions of the UP, but not the UP as a whole.
• Ending of sentences in "Eh (Aye)?" or "Ya know?" Used at end of sentences with the expectation of receiving an affirmative response ("So, you're /yɛr/ goin' out t'nide, eh?"). This is often associated with Canadian English, but used exclusively in either expectation of a response or as a repetition of a statement made by the co-conversant. "Hey" is used interchangeably and perhaps more often among younger Yoopers.
• German second verb word order ("We are going to hunt deer" becomes "We're goin deer huntin'"), although this construction is common outside the UP, and its roots have not been documented as originating from the German.
• German definite articles (The = Da, Dem, Die), also a result of the above replacement of "th" with d, although this could be a coincidental similarity rather than a direct loan from German.
• Ending of sentences in "You betcha."
• Pronouncing "creek", "crick."
• Replacement of dental fricatives with alveolar stops so then becomes den and thigh becomes tie, etc.
• The progressive and gerund "-ing" becomes "-in'"
• Deletion of "to the" ex. "I'm goin' mall" or "I'm goin' shop" due to the lack of these words in Finnish.
• Combining words that precede "you". For example, "don't you" would become "doncha" and "won't you" would become "woncha"
• Vowels will morph into a double inflection, as though there is another syllable in the word
Canadian English
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Canadian English (CaE) is a variety of English used in Canada. More than 25 million Canadians (85 percent of the population) have some knowledge of English (2001 census [2]). Canadian spelling contains elements of British and American English; Canadian vocabulary, although similar to American vocabulary, also features many British terms, several distinctive Canadianisms, French influence in many areas, and notable local variations.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Spelling
• 3 Phonology and Pronunciation
o 3.1 Pronunciation
• 4 Vocabulary
o 4.1 Comparison of Canadian, British, and American lexicons
4.1.1 Education
4.1.2 Units of measurement
4.1.3 Transportation
4.1.4 Politics
4.1.5 Law
4.1.6 Household items
4.1.7 Food and beverage
4.1.8 Colloquialisms
4.1.9 Grammar
4.1.10 Miscellaneous
o 4.2 Words used mainly in Canadian English
o 4.3 Regional vocabularies
4.3.1 Newfoundland
4.3.2 French influence on English spoken in Quebec
4.3.3 Chinook Jargon words in British Columbia, Alberta and The Yukon
4.3.4 Ottawa Valley
4.3.5 Toronto
• 5 Dictionaries
• 6 Notes
• 7 References
• 8 Further reading
• 9 See also
• 10 External links
[edit] History
The term "Canadian English" is first attested in a speech by the Reverend A. Constable Geikie in an address to the Canadian Institute in 1857. Geikie, a Scottish-born Canadian, reflected the Anglocentric attitude prevalent in Canada for the next hundred years when he referred to the language as "a corrupt dialect," in comparison to what he considered the proper English spoken by immigrants from Britain.[1]
Canadian English is the product of four waves of immigration and settlement over a period of almost two centuries. The first large wave of permanent English-speaking settlement in Canada, and linguistically the most important, was the influx of British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, chiefly from the middle Atlantic states. The second wave from Britain and Ireland was encouraged to settle in Canada after the War of 1812 by the governors of Canada, who were worried about anti-English sentiment among its citizens. Waves of immigration from around the globe peaking in 1910 and 1960 had a lesser influence, but they did make Canada a multicultural country, ready to accept linguistic change from around the world during the current period of globalization.[2] The languages of Canadian Aboriginal peoples started to influence European languages used in Canada even before widespread settlement took place,[3] and the French of Lower Canada provided vocabulary to the English of Upper Canada.[4]
[edit] Spelling
Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American rules. Most notably, French-derived words that in American English end with -or and -er, such as color or center, usually retain British spellings (colour and centre), although American spellings are not uncommon. Also, while the U.S. uses the Anglo-French spelling defense (noun), Canada uses the British spelling defence. (Note that defensive is universal.) In other cases, Canadians and Americans stand at odds with British spelling such as in the case of nouns like tire and curb, which in British English are spelled tyre and kerb.
Like American English, Canadian English prefers -ize endings whenever British usage allows both -ise (the Cambridge model) and -ize spellings (the Oxford model) (e.g. realize, recognize). However, some of the technical parts of the Air section of Transport Canada, e.g., Air Policy,[3] use a compromised Cambridge model; e.g., tires instead of tyres, but organisational rather than organizational.
Canadian spelling rules can be partly explained by Canada's trade history. For instance, the British spelling of the word cheque probably relates to Canada's once-important ties to British financial institutions. Canada's automobile industry, on the other hand, has been dominated by American firms from its inception, explaining why Canadians use the American spelling of tire and American terminology for the parts of automobiles.
A contemporary reference for formal Canadian spelling is the spelling used for Hansard transcripts of the Parliament of Canada. Many Canadian editors, though, use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2004), often along with the chapter on spelling in Editing Canadian English, and, where necessary (depending on context) one or more other references. (See the section "Further reading.")
[edit] Phonology and Pronunciation
The factual accuracy of this section is disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page
Although there is no single linguistic definition that includes Canada as a whole, a fairly homogeneous dialect exists in Western and Central Canada. William Labov identifies an inland region that concentrates all of the defining features of the dialect centred on the Prairies, with periphery areas with more variable patterns including the metropolitan areas of Vancouver and Toronto.[5]
The following features distinguish Canadian English from a phonologically conservative Northern U.S. accent:
• Canadian raising: Diphthongs are "raised" before voiceless consonants. For example, IPA /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ become [əɪ] and [əʊ], respectively, before [p], [t], [k], [s], [f]. It is found throughout Canada, including much of the Atlantic Provinces.[6] It is the strongest in the Inland region, and is receding in younger speakers in Lower Mainland BC, as well as certain parts of Ontario. Many Canadians do not possess this feature, and defining the dialect by this would exclude parts of Atlantic Canada and include some adjacent portions of the U.S.
• Cot-caught merger: Speakers do not distinguish between the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ] and open back unrounded vowel [ɑ].
• Canadian Shift: It is the defining feature of all of Canada except the Atlantic Provinces.[7] It is a chain shift triggered by the cot-caught merger. The vowels in the words cot and caught merge to [kɔt]. The /æ/ of bat is retracted to [a], the /ɛ/ of bet shifts to [æ], the /ɪ/ in bit then shifts to the [ɛ] in bet.[8] The Canadian shift is absent from the U.S., except for some speakers scattered throughout the far West, although the California vowel shift contains similar features.
• Traditionally diphthongal vowels such as /oʊ/ (as in boat) and /eɪ/ (as in bait) have qualities much closer to monophthongs in some speakers especially in the Inland region.
• /o/ and /aʊ/ are pronounced back.
• /u/ is fronted after coronals.
• /æ/ is tense before velar stops.
• Words such as borrow, sorry or tomorrow are realized as [-ɔr-], rather than [-ɑr-].
The island of Newfoundland has a distinctive dialect of English known as Newfoundland English; many in the Maritime provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island – have an accent that sounds more like Scottish English and, in some places, Irish English than General American. There is also some French influence in pronunciation for some English-speaking Canadians who live near, and especially work with, French-Canadians.
The phonology of Maritimer English has some unique features:
• Pre-consonantal [ɹ] sounds are sometimes removed.
• The flapping of intervocalic /t/ and /d/ to alveolar tap [ɾ] between vowels, as well as pronouncing it as a glottal stop [ʔ], is less common in the Maritimes. Therefore, battery is pronounced as [ˈbætɹi] instead of [ˈbæɾ(ə)ɹi].
Northern Canada is, according to Labov, a dialect region in formation.[9]
[edit] Pronunciation
• The /ɑ/ of foreign loanwords (such as pasta) is pronounced as /æ/.
• Been is pronounced by many speakers as /bin/ rather than /bɪn/.
• Words such as fragile, fertile, and mobile are pronounced as [fɹædʒajl̩], [fɝtajl̩], and [moʊbajl̩]. The American pronunciation of fertile as [fɝɾl̩] is also becoming somewhat common[citation needed] in Canada, even though [fɹædʒajl̩] remains dominant.
• Words like semi, anti, and multi tend to be pronounced as [sɛmi], [ænti], and [mʌlti] rather than [sɛmaɪ], [æntaɪ], and [mʌltaɪ]. Often, a Canadian will use the former in general use, but the latter in order to add emphasis[citation needed].
• Lieutenant is pronounced [lɛf'tɛnənt].
• The word premier "leader of a provincial or territorial government" is commonly pronounced [ˈpɹi.mjiɹ], with [ˈpɹɛ.mjɛɹ] and [ˈpɹi.mjɛɹ] being rare variants.
• The herb and given masculine name basil is usually pronounced [ˈbæzəl] rather than [ˈbezəl].
• Some Canadians pronounce asphalt as "ash-falt" [ˈaʃ.fɒlt].[10] This pronunciation is also common in Australian English, but not quite so in General American English or British English.
[edit] Vocabulary
The factual accuracy of this section is disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page
[edit] Comparison of Canadian, British, and American lexicons
Where Canadian English shares vocabulary with other English dialects, it tends to share most with American English; many terms in standard Canadian English are, however, shared with Britain, but not with the majority of American speakers. In some cases the British and the American term coexist, to various extents; a classic example is holiday, often used interchangeably with vacation. In addition, the vocabulary of Canadian English also features words that are seldom (if ever) found elsewhere.
As a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Canada shares many items of institutional terminology with the countries of the former British Empire – e.g., constable, for a police officer of the lowest rank, and chartered accountant.
[edit] Education
The term college, which refers to post-secondary education in general in the U.S., refers in Canada to either a post-secondary technical or vocational institution, or to one of the colleges that exist as federated schools within some Canadian universities. Most often, a college is a community college, not a university. It may also refer to a CÉGEP in Quebec. In Canada, college student might denote someone obtaining a diploma in business management while university student is the term for someone earning a bachelor's degree. For that reason, going to college does not have the same meaning as going to university, unless the speaker clarifies the specific level of post-secondary education that is meant.
Canadian universities publish calendars or schedules, not catalogs as in the U.S. Students write exams, they do not take or sit them[citation needed]. Those who supervise students during an exam are generally called invigilators as in Britain, or sometimes proctors as in the U.S.; usage may depend on the region or even the individual institution[citation needed].
Successive years of school are often, if not usually, referred to as grade one, grade two, and so on. (Compare American first grade, second grade, sporadically found in Canada, and British Year 1, Year 2.)[11] In the U.S., the four years of high school are termed the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years (terms also used for college years); in Canada, these are simply grade 9 through 12.[12] As for higher education, only the term freshman (or frosh) has some currency in Canada.[13] The specific high-school grades and university years are therefore stated and individualized; for example, the grade 12s failed to graduate; John is a second year at Carleton.
Canadian students use the term marks (more common in England) or grades to refer to their results; usage is very mixed.[14]
[edit] Units of measurement
Use of metric units is more advanced in Canada than in the U.S. as a result of the national adoption of the Metric System during the 1970s by the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Official measurements are given in metric, including highway speeds and distances, fuel volume and consumption, and weather measurements (with temperatures in degrees Celsius). However, it is not uncommon for Canadians to use Imperial units such as pounds, feet, and inches to measure their bodies; cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons in the kitchen; and (with older generations) miles for distances. The term klicks is sometimes used interchangeably with kilometres.
[edit] Transportation
• Although Canadian lexicon features both railway and railroad, railway is the usual term, at least in naming (witness Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway); most rail terminology in Canada, however, follows American usage (e.g., ties and cars rather than sleepers and wagons, although[citation needed] railway employees themselves say sleeper).
• A two-way ticket can be either a round-trip (American term) or a return (British term).
• The terms highway (e.g. Trans-Canada Highway), expressway (Central Canada, as in the Gardiner Expressway) and freeway are used to describe a high speed, limited access road. Quebec speakers may call this an autoroute. The British term motorway is not used.
[edit] Politics
• To table a document in Canada is to present it (as in Britain), whereas in the U.S. it means to withdraw it from consideration.
• Several political terms are more in use in Canada than elsewhere, including riding (as a general term for a parliamentary constituency or electoral district).
• The term Tory, used in Britain with a similar meaning, denotes a supporter of the federal Conservative Party of Canada, the historic Progressive Conservative Party of Canada or a provincial Progressive Conservative party; the U.S. use of Tory to mean the Loyalists in the time of the American Revolution is unknown in Canada, where they are called United Empire Loyalists. The term Red Tory is also occasionally used.
• Members of the Liberal Party of Canada or a provincial Liberal party are sometimes referred to as Grits, and members of the Bloc Québécois are sometimes referred to as Bloquistes. At the purely provincial level, members of Quebec's Parti Québécois are sometime referred to as Péquistes, and members of the Quebec provincial Action démocratique du Québec as Adéquistes.
[edit] Law
Lawyers in all parts of Canada, except Quebec, which has its own civil law system, are called "barristers and solicitors" because any lawyer licensed in any of the common law provinces and territories is permitted to engage in two specific types of legal practice which are separated in other common-law jurisdictions such as England, Wales, and Ireland. Yet the words lawyer or counsel (not counsellor) predominates in everyday contexts, though the American term attorney is sometimes encountered.
As in England, the equivalent of an American district attorney is called a crown attorney (in Ontario), crown counsel (in British Columbia), crown prosecutor or the crown.
The words advocate and notary – two distinct professions in civil law Quebec – are used to refer to that province's equivalent of barrister and solicitor, respectively. In Canada's common law provinces and territories, the word notary means strictly a notary public.
Within the Canadian legal community itself, the word solicitor is often used to refer to any Canadian lawyer in general (much like the way the word attorney is used in the United States to refer to any American lawyer in general). Despite the conceptual distinction between barrister and solicitor, Canadian court documents would contain a phrase such as "John Smith, solicitor for the Plaintiff" even though "John Smith" may well himself be the barrister who argues the case in court. In a letter introducing him/herself to an opposing lawyer, a Canadian lawyer normally writes something like "I am the solicitor for Mr. Tom Jones."
The word litigator is also used by lawyers to refer to a fellow lawyer who specializes in lawsuits even though the more traditional word barrister is still employed to denote the same specialization.
The word attorney is ordinarily used in Canada to mean:
• a person who has been granted power of attorney;
• a lawyer who prosecutes criminal cases on behalf of the government, i.e. crown attorney;
• an American lawyer with whom a Canadian lawyer is interacting regarding a cross-border transaction or legal case; or
• an American lawyer who works in Canada and advises Canadian clients on issues of American law.
As in England, a serious crime is called an indictable offence, while a less-serious crime is called a summary offence. The older words felony and misdemeanour, which are still used in the United States, are not used in Canada's current Criminal Code (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46) or by today's Canadian legal system. As noted throughout the Criminal Code, a person accused of a crime is called the accused and not the defendant, a term used instead in civil lawsuits.
[edit] Household items
Terms common in Canada, Britain, and Ireland but less frequent or nonexistent in the U.S. are:
• Tin (as in tin of tuna), for can, especially among older speakers. Among younger speakers, can is more common, with tin[citation needed] referring to a can which is wider than it is tall.
• Cutlery, for silverware or flatware.
• Serviette, for a table napkin, though this is fast being changed to the latter.[citation needed]
• Tap, conspicuously more common than faucet in everyday usage.
[edit] Food and beverage
• Most Canadians as well as Americans in the Northwest, North Central, and Inland North prefer pop over soda to refer to a carbonated beverage (but neither term is dominant in British English; see further at Soft drink).
• What Americans call Canadian bacon is named back bacon or, if it is coated in cornmeal or ground peas, peameal bacon in Canada.
• What most Americans call a candy bar is usually known as a chocolate bar (as in the UK).
[edit] Colloquialisms
A rubber in the U.S. and Canada is slang for a condom; however, in Canada it is sometimes another term for eraser (as it is in the United Kingdom) and, in the plural, for overshoes or galoshes. (Canadians and British often use "toe rubbers" to refer to rubber overshoes, to distinguish them from other "rubbers".[15])
The terms booter and soaker refer to getting water in one's shoe. The former is generally more common in the prairies, the latter in the rest of Canada[citation needed].
The word bum can refer either to the buttocks (as in Britain), or, derogatorily, to a homeless person (as in the U.S.). However, the "buttocks" sense does not have the indecent character it retains in British and Australasian use, as it is commonly used as a polite or childish euphemism for ruder words such as butt, arse (commonly used in Atlantic Canada and among older people in Ontario and to the west), or ass[citation needed].
[edit] Grammar
• The name of the letter Z is normally the Anglo-European (and French) zed; the American zee is not unknown in Canada, but it is often stigmatized.
• When writing, Canadians will start a sentence with As well, in the sense of "in addition."
• Canadian and British English share idioms like in hospital and to university[16] [4], while in American English the definite article is mandatory; to/in the hospital is also common in Canadian speech[citation needed].
[edit] Miscellaneous
• The code appended to mail addresses (the equivalent of the British postcode and the American ZIP code) is called a postal code.
• Although the American World War I and World War II are popular in Canadian public use, they are considered substandard in some Canadian academic circles, which prefer First World War (or the Great War) and Second World War[citation needed].
[edit] Words used mainly in Canadian English
Canadian English has words or expressions not found, or not widely used, in other variants of English. Additionally, like other dialects of English that exist in proximity to francophones, French loanwords have entered Canadian English.
• ABM, bank machine: synonymous with ATM (which is also used).
• allophone: a resident whose first language is one other than English or French. Used only by linguists in other English-speaking countries, this word has come to be used by journalists and broadcasters, and then by the general public, in some parts of Canada.
• bachelor: bachelor apartment ("They have a bachelor for rent").
• Canuck: a slang term for "Canadian" in the U.S. and Canada. It sometimes means "French Canadian" in particular, especially when used in the Northeast of the United States and in Canada. The term was adopted as the name of the National Hockey League team in Vancouver: Vancouver Canucks, and is used as the nickname for the Canada national rugby union team. Sometimes jokingly pronounced can-OOK (not used this way for the hockey team).
• chesterfield: a sofa or couch. Used somewhat in Northern California; obsolete in Britain (where it originated). Sometimes (as in classic furnishing terminology) refers to a sofa whose arms are the same height as the back, but more usually to any couch or sofa. The more international terms sofa and couch are also used; among younger generations in the western and central regions, chesterfield is largely in decline.
• chinook: a warm, dry wind experienced along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. Most common in winter and spring, a chinook wind can result in a rise in temperature of 20 C° (36 F°) in a quarter of an hour. In Alaska, the word is pronounced with an affricate ch instead of the fricative sh sound as used in Canada, and means an extremely wet, warm, constant southwesterly, which actually is the same weather pattern as the drying wind that it becomes when it hits Alberta. The use of the word to mean a wind is from the Chinook Jargon, "i.e., the wind from the direction of the country of the Chinooks" (the lower Columbia River), as transmitted to the Prairies by the francophone employees of the North West Company, hence the Frenchified pronunciation east of the Rockies. A Chinook in BC is also one of the five main varieties of salmon, and can also mean the Chinook Jargon, although this older usage is now very rare (as is the Jargon itself).
• concession road: in southern Ontario and southern Quebec, one of a set of roads laid out by the colonial government as part of the distribution of land in standard lot sizes. The roads were laid out in squares as nearly as possible equal to 1,000 acres (4 km²). Many of the concession roads were known as sidelines, and in Ontario many roads are still called lines.
• double-double: a cup of coffee with two creams and two sugars.
• eavestroughs: rain gutters. Also used, especially in the past, in the Northern and Western U.S.; the first recorded usage is in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: "The tails tapering down that way, serve to carry off the water, d'ye see. Same with cocked hats; the cocks form gable-end eave-troughs [sic], Flask."
• eh: a spoken interjection to ascertain the comprehension, continued interest, agreement, etc., of the person or persons addressed ("That was a good game last night, eh?"). May also be used instead of "huh?" or "what?" meaning "please repeat or say again." Frequently mis-represented by Americans as A, or hey. May have its origins from the French hein, which is pronounced in a very similar fashion.
• fire hall: fire station, firehouse
• garburator: a garbage disposal unit located beneath the drain of a kitchen sink.
• ginch, gitch, gaunch, gautch: underwear.
• gas bar: a [gas station]
• flat: a 24-container case of beer, also called a two-four.
• height of land: a drainage divide. Originally American.
• humidex: measurement used by meteorologists to reflect the combined effect of heat and humidity.
• hydro: (except Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Maritimes) commonly as a synonym for electrical service. Many Canadian provincial electric companies generate power from hydroelectricity, and incorporate the term "Hydro" in their names: Toronto Hydro, Hydro Ottawa, etc. Usage: "Manitoba Hydro... It's not just a Power Company anymore."; "How long did you work for Hydro?" "When's Hydro gonna get the lines back up."; "The hydro bill is due on the fifteenth."; "I didn't pay my hydro bill so they shut off my lights." Hence hydrofield, a line of electricity transmission towers, usually in groups cutting across a city, and hydro lines/poles, electrical transmission lines/poles.
• joe job: a low-class, low-paying job. Not to be confused with the American term joe job.
• loonie: Canadian one dollar coin. Derived from the use of the loon on the reverse.
• lumber jacket: A thick flannel jackeolett either red and black or green and black favoured by blue collar workers and heavy metal/grunge aficionados. This apparel is more commonly referred to as a mackinac (pron mackinaw). In parts of British Columbia, it is referred to as a doeskin.
• parkade: a parking garage, especially in the West.
• pencil crayon:[17] coloured pencil.
• pogie: state welfare, or a person using state welfare.
• runners: running shoes, sneakers, especially in Central Canada. Also used somewhat in Australian English.
• toonie: Canadian two dollar coin. Modelled after loonie (q.v.). Also spelled tooney, twooney, twoonie, twonie, or twoney.
• tuque: a knitted winter hat, often with a pompon on the crown. Sometimes misspelled toque, which is in fact an unrelated type of hat.
• two-four: a 24-container case of beer, also called a flat.
• washroom[5]: the general term for what is normally named public toilet or lavatory in Britain. In the U.S. (where it originated) mostly replaced by restroom in the 20th century. Usage may be affected by U.S. businesses in Canada that often post restroom in place of washroom signs on doors, and (usually ethnic) restaurants that buy signs from U.S. suppliers. Generally used only as a technical or commercial term outside of Canada. The word bathroom is also used.
[edit] Regional vocabularies
[edit] Newfoundland
Main article: Newfoundland English
The dialect spoken in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, an autonomous dominion until March 31, 1949, is often considered the most distinctive Canadian dialect. Some Newfoundland English differs in vowel pronunciation, morphology, syntax, and preservation of archaic adverbal-intensifiers. The dialect can vary markedly from community to community, as well as from region to region, reflecting ethnic origin as well as a past in which there were few roads and many communities, and fishing villages in particular remained very isolated.
[edit] French influence on English spoken in Quebec
Main article: Quebec English
• A person with English mother tongue and still speaking English as the first language is called an Anglophone. The corresponding term for a French speaker is Francophone and the corresponding term for a person who is neither Anglophone nor Francophone is Allophone. Anglophone and Francophone are used in New Brunswick, an officially bilingual province.
• Quebec Anglophones generally pronounce French street names in Montreal as French words. Pie IX Boulevard is pronounced as in French («pi-neuf»), not as "pie nine." On the other hand, Anglophones do pronounce final Ds, as in Bernard and Bouchard.
[edit] Chinook Jargon words in British Columbia, Alberta and The Yukon
Main article: Chinook Jargon in West/Central Canadian English
British Columbia English has several words still in current use borrowed from the Chinook Jargon. Most famous and widely used of these terms are skookum and saltchuck.
[edit] Ottawa Valley
Main article: Ottawa Valley Twang
The area to the north and west of Ottawa is heavily influenced by original Scottish, Irish, and German settlers, with many French loanwords. This is frequently referred to as the Valley Accent. This dialect is heavy with slang phrases and terminology.
[edit] Toronto
The English spoken in Toronto has some similarities with the English in the Northern U.S. Slang terms used in Toronto are synonymous with those used in other major North American cities. There is also a heavy influx of slang terminology originating from Toronto's many immigrant communities, of which the vast majority speak English only as a second or tertiary language. These terms originate mainly from various European, Asian, and African words.
• Some Torontonians pronounce the name of their city in an elided form as T'rana or T'ronno (often with nasal alveolar flap instead of N).
• An abbreviated way of speaking about the city is T.O., which stands for "Toronto, Ontario." Toronto is also referred to as Tdot, which is derived from this abbreviation.
• Hogtown is another slang term for Toronto, deriving from West Toronto's history as a major meatpacking area (especially, of swine).
• The environs of Toronto as well as the surrounding suburbs and cities are often called "The Greater Toronto Area," or GTA.
• The name of the city Etobicoke is pronounced without the final two letters (i.e., "ke").
[edit] Dictionaries
In 1998, Oxford University Press produced a Canadian English dictionary, after five years of lexicographical research, entitled The Oxford Canadian Dictionary. A second edition, retitled The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, was published in 2004. It listed uniquely Canadian words and words borrowed from other languages, and surveyed spellings, such as whether colour or color was the most popular choice in common use.
Gage Learning Corp. published The Gage Canadian Dictionary in 1993, with "a major revision" in 1998.
West/Central Canadian English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The West/Central Canadian English dialect is one of the largest and the most homogenous dialect areas in North America. It forms a dialect continuum with the accent in the Western United States, and borders the dialect regions of North, Inland North, and North Central. While it is the most homogenous in that the regional differences inside the dialect area are very small, it has few unique features. It is very similar to General American English.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Pronunciation
• 2 Regional Variation
o 2.1 British Columbia
2.1.1 Chinook Jargon
o 2.2 Prairies
o 2.3 Ontario
2.3.1 Southwestern Ontario
2.3.2 Central Ontario
2.3.3 Ottawa Valley
2.3.4 Eastern Ontario
2.3.5 Toronto
o 2.4 Quebec
• 3 See also
• 4 References
[edit] Pronunciation
A table containing the consonant phonemes is given below
Bilabial
Labio-
dental
Labio-
velar
Dental
Alveolar
Post-
alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Stop
p b t d k g
Affricate
tʃ dʒ
Nasal
m n ŋ
Fricative
f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h
Approximant
(ʍ) w ɹ j
Lateral approximant
l
The phoneme /ʍ/ is present only in older speakers who have not undergone the wine-whine merger.
The vowel phonemes are shown in the table below:
Monophthongs
Front
Central
Central
rhotacized
Back
Close
i u
Near-close
ɪ ʊ
Close-mid
e o
Mid
ə ɚ
Open-mid
ɛ ɝ ʌ
Open
æ ɑ
The diphthongs are shown in the next table:
Diphthongs
Closer component
is front Closer component
is back
Opener component is unrounded
aɪ aʊ
Opener component is rounded ɔɪ
While the West/Central dialect is mutually intelligible with many dialects of English spoken in England, especially Received Pronunciation, in general it preserves more archaic features, that existed before the dialects split.
• Unlike RP, the West/Central dialect is rhotic. This means it maintains the pronunciation of r before consonants. Rhoticity has been largely influenced by Hiberno-English, Scottish English, and West Country English. The sound corresponding to the letter "R" is a retroflex or alveolar approximant rather than a trill or a tap. The 'er' sound of (stressed) fur or (unstressed) butter, which is represented in IPA as stressed [ɝ] or unstressed [ɚ] is realized in Canadian English as a monophthongal r-colored vowel.
• It has also not shifted [æ] to [ɑ] (the so-called "broad A") before [f], [s], [θ], [ð], [z], [v] alone or preceded by [n].
Both RP, and the West/Central dialect have gone through the following changes:
• The horse-hoarse merger of the vowels [ɔ] and [oʊ] before 'r', making pairs like horse/hoarse, corps/core, for/four, morning/mourning etc. homophones.
• The wine-whine merger making pairs like wine/whine, wet/whet, Wales/whales, wear/where etc. homophones, in most cases eliminating /ʍ/, the voiceless labiovelar fricative. This is preserved in some older speakers, as well as being an archaicism.
The following changes are innovations, and do not occur in RP. It shares these changes with General American.
• The merger of [ɑ] and [ɒ], making father and bother rhyme.
• The replacement of the lot vowel with the strut vowel in most utterances of the words was, of, from, what, everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody, and because.
• Vowel merger before intervocalic /r/.
• The merger of [ʊɹ] and [ɝ] after palatals in some words, so that cure, pure, mature and sure rhyme with fir in some speech registers for some speakers.
• Some speakers have Dropping of [j] after alveolar consonants so that new, duke, Tuesday, suit, resume, lute are pronounced /nuː/, /duːk/, /tuːzdeɪ/, /suːt/, /ɹɪzuːm/, /luːt/.
• Both intervocalic /nt/ and /n/ may be realized as [n] or [ɾ̃], making winter and winner homophones for some speakers. This does not occur when the second syllable is stressed, as in entail.
• Laxing of /e/, /i/ and /u/ to /ɛ/, /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ before /ɹ/, causing pronunciations like [pɛɹ], [pɪɹ] and [pjʊɹ] for pair, peer and pure.
• The flapping of intervocalic /t/ and /d/ to alveolar tap [ɾ] before reduced vowels. The words ladder and latter are mostly or entirely homophonous, possibly distinguished only by the length of preceding vowel. For some speakers, the merger is incomplete and 't' before a reduced vowel is sometimes not tapped following [eɪ] or [ɪ] when it represents underlying 't'; thus greater and grader, and unbitten and unbidden are distinguished.
• The vowels in words such as Mary, marry, merry are merged to the open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛ], except in Quebec.
The following changes are shared with the Western dialect in the US:
• Traditionally diphthongal vowels such as [oʊ] as in boat and [eɪ], as in bait, have acquired qualities much closer to monophthongs in some speakers. However, the continuing presence of slight offglides (if less salient than those of, say, British Received Pronunciation) and convention in IPA transcription for English account for continuing use of [oʊ] and [eɪ].
• The cot-caught merger exists. A notable exception occurs with some speakers over the age of 60, especially in rural areas in the Prairies, although the merger is the most widespread overall.
• /ɛ/ is realized as [e] before g.
• The words origin, Florida, horrible, quarrel, warren, are all generally realized as [-ɔr-], rather than [-ɑr-].
• /u/ is slightly fronted after coronals.
• The /iŋ/ ending in words of more than two syllables is realized as [in], [ɪn], or [ɪŋ].
• Milk is realized as [mɛlk] by some speakers, [mɪlk] by others, although words such as pillow are pronounced with [-ɪl-].
The following changes are shared with the Western dialect in the U.S., but to a lesser extent:
• A recently identified feature (1995) is a chain shift known as the Canadian Shift. The Canadian Shift is a chain shift triggered by the cot-caught merger. The vowels in the words "cot" [kɒt] and "caught" [kɔt] merge to [kɒt]. The Canadian Shift then shifts both "cot" and "caught" towards [kɔt]. The /æ/ of bat is retracted to [a], the /ɛ/ of bet shifts to [æ], the /ɪ/ in bit then shifts to the [ɛ] in bet.[3]
The following changes are shared with the Pacific Northwest English dialect, as well as other dialects:
• æ-tensing /æ/ is tense before velar stops. This can cause words such as "bag" and "beg" to sound very similar, and some speakers pronounce both as [beg]. Some speakers, especially in Ontario have tense æ-tensing before nasals as well.
• Tomorrow is generally pronounced as [-ɔr-], instead of [-ɑr-].
• The following feature is most prominent in the Prairies, Ontario, and the Maritimes: "Canadian raising": diphthongs are "raised" before voiceless consonants (e.g., [p], [t], [k], [s], [f]). For example, IPA /aɪ/ (the vowel of "eye") and /aʊ/ (the vowel of "loud") become [əɪ] and [əʊ], respectively, the /a/ component of the diphthong going from a low vowel to schwa ([ə]). Note also that this phenomenon preserves the recoverability of the phoneme /t/ in "writer" despite the North American English process of flapping, which merges /t/ and /d/ into [ɾ] before unstressed vowels, so "writer" and "rider" can be distinguished from each other even though the t and d in those words are pronounced the same. The most noticeable feature is the raising of /aʊ/ to [əʊ] because [əʊ] is an allophone of /oʊ/ (as in "road") in many other dialects, so the (mainly Eastern) Canadian pronunciation of "about the house" may sound like *"a boat the hoas" to speakers of dialects without the raising, and in many cases is misheard or exaggerated to "aboot the hoose". Some stand-up and situation comedians, as well as television shows actually do exaggerate the pronunciation to *"aboot the hoos" for comic effect, for example in the American television series South Park.
In contrast to General American:
• The /ɑ/ of foreign loan words in words such asdrama or Iraq are usually pronounced like the a in bat: [dɹæmə], [ɪɹæk].
• Been is usually pronounced /bin/ rather than /bɪn/.
• Words such as borrow, sorry, and sorrow are generally pronounced with [-ɔr-], instead of with [-ɑr-].
• Americans sometimes claim to be able to recognize the Western/Central Canadian dialect instantly by their use of the word eh. However, only a certain usage of eh (detailed in the article) is peculiar to Canada. It is common in southern Ontario, the Maritimes and the Prairie provinces. eh is used quite frequently in the North Central dialect, so a Canadian accent is often detected in people from North Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
[edit] Regional Variation
[edit] British Columbia
See also: Pacific Northwest English
The dialect is very similar to the English spoken in the Prairies and Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. BC is home to a very diverse population. In parts of the Fraser Valley the intonation and cadence of Dutch and Mennonite German have influenced local English. British accents and a wide range of European and Asian second-language flavoured English have always been common, to the point of the British flavour being identifiably a hallmark of early 20th Century British Columbia, as has been English as spoken by First Nations peoples, which is distinct as an accent but also remains largely undocumented. Unlike in the prairies, Canadian raising (one of the most noticeable features of Canadian English), found in words such as "about" and "writer" is receding in BC, and many speakers do not raise /aɪ/ before voiceless consonants. Younger speakers in the Greater Vancouver area do not even raise /aʊ/, causing "about" to sound like "abowt". The "o" in words such as in the words "holy," "goal," "load," "know," etc. is pronounced as a back and rounded [o], but not as rounded as in the Prairies where there is a strong Scandinavian, Slavic and German influence. The interrogative "eh" is not used as frequently as in the rest of Canada.
Hear BC English
[edit] Chinook Jargon
Main article: Chinook Jargon use by English Language speakers
Pacific Northwest English and British Columbian English have several words still in current use which are loanwords from the Chinook Jargon, which was widely spoken throughout British Columbia by all ethnicities well into the middle of the 20th Century. Skookum, potlatch, muckamuck, saltchuck, and other Chinook Jargon words are widely used by people who do not speak Chinook Jargon. These words tend to be shared with, but are not as common in, the states of Oregon, Washington, Alaska and, to a lesser degree, Idaho and western Montana.
[edit] Prairies
A strong Canadian raising exists in the prairie regions together with certain older usages such as chesterfield and front room also associated with the Maritimes. Aboriginal Canadians are a larger and more conspicuous population in prairie cities than elsewhere in the country and certain elements of aboriginal speech in English are sometimes to be heard. Similarly, the linguistic legacy, mostly intonation but also speech patterns and syntax, of the Scandinavian, Slavic and German settlers — who are far more numerous and historically important in the Prairies than in Ontario or the Maritimes — can be heard in the general milieu. Again, the large Métis population in Saskatchewan also carries with it certain linguistic traits inherited from French, aboriginal and Celtic forebears.
The noun bluff (and the adjective bluffy) in reference to an aspen and willow grove typically surrounding a slough, appears to be unknown outside the Canadian prairies, whereas the eastern Canadian and international use of the term in reference to a low cliff or abutment, is largely unknown in western Canada and causes some puzzlement to newly arrived westerners in Ontario.
The phrase whack of is often used in western Canada to refer to a large amount, e.g., We sure got a whole whack of snow in town last week!
Prairie housewives formerly used the somewhat disparaging adjective boughten, also used in the Northern U.S., in reference to bread purchased commercially rather than home-baked. The word is now considered nonstandard, and rarely used.
In Saskatchewan, the term "bunny hug" refers to a hoodie.
Hear Prairies English
[edit] Ontario
Canadian raising is often quite strong in Ontario.
[edit] Southwestern Ontario
In southwestern Ontario, especially in rural areas there are a number of pronunciations reminiscent of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. For example, not is pronounced as [nat]). This pronunciation is exaggerated to signify sarcasm or emphasis: not becomes [næt], and hockey may be pronounced as [hæki]. Before nasals, /æ/ is raised and diphthongized to [eə] or [ɪə]: Andy is pronounced [eəndi] or [ɪəndi].
[edit] Central Ontario
In Central Ontario (especially the region around Toronto), [ð] is often pronounced as [d]. Sometimes (particularly in North York, an area of Toronto, [ð] is elided altogether, resulting in "Do you want this one er'iss one?" The word southern is often pronounced with [aʊ]. In the regional area north of York and south of Parry Sound, notably among those who were born in these bedroom communities (Barrie, Vaughan, Orillia, Bradford, Newmarket) as opposed to those who moved there to commute, the cutting down of syllables is often heard, e.g. "probably" is reduced to "prolly", or "probly" when used as a response.
[edit] Ottawa Valley
The Ottawa Valley has its own distinct accent, known as the Ottawa Valley Twang.
[edit] Eastern Ontario
Canadian raising is not as strong in Eastern Ontario as it is in the rest of the province. In Prescott and Russell, parts of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry and Eastern Ottawa, French accents are often mixed with English ones due to the high Franco-Ontarian population there. In Renfrew County a separate dialect known as Ottawa Valley Twang has developed. In Lanark County, Western Ottawa and Leeds-Grenville and the rest of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry, the accent spoken is nearly identical to that spoken in Central Ontario and the Quinte area.
Words in which the Eastern Ontario accent is significant:
• Got it - often pronounced [gɔɾɪʔ]
• Okay - often pronounced [ɔɪke]
• Hello - often pronounced [helo]
[edit] Toronto
Slang terms used in Toronto are synonymous with those used in other major North American cities. There is also a heavy influx of slang terminology originating from Toronto's many immigrant communities, of which the vast majority speak English only as a second or minor language. These terms originate mainly from various European, Asian, and African words. Many Torontonians use buddy (without a capital) as it is often used in Newfoundland English – as equivalent to that man (I like buddy's car.).
In Toronto's ethnic communities there are many words that are distinct, or come straight from Jamaica.
• arms (Toronto): weak, poor, bad; More prominent amongst inner-city youth.
• mans (Toronto): Slang for 'men', popular with the youth of Toronto
• fete (Trinidad and Tobago): a really big party.
• jam (Toronto): a big party.
• waste (Toronto) : something is "waste," something sucks, is stupid, is pointless
• brainer, (one gets…) brainz (Toronto): one who gives oral sex to men, synonym to "head"
• live (Toronto): cool, good, lively.
• snuff (Toronto) : punch.
• mangia-cake, cake, caker (Toronto) : used mostly by Torontonians of Italian origin, referring to non-Italians or more specifically people of British descent (the majority of Ontarians).
Listen to a sample of Ontario English
[edit] Quebec
Main article: Quebec English
English is a minority language in Quebec, but has many speakers in Montréal, the Eastern Townships and in the Gatineau-Ottawa region. Among Montréal-native anglophones, there is a distinction between /æ/ and /a/, unique in Canada, so that Mary and merry are not homophones. Among Eastern Townships-native anglophones, syrup is often pronounced as sir-rup. Quebec also has French influence. A person with English mother tongue and still speaking English as the first language is called an Anglophone. The corresponding term for a French speaker is Francophone and the corresponding term for a person who is neither Anglophone nor Francophone is Allophone. Quebec Anglophones generally pronounce French street names in Montreal as French words. Pie IX Boulevard is pronounced as in French, not as "pie nine". On the other hand, Anglophones do pronounce final d's as in Bernard and Bouchard; the word Montreal is pronounced as an English word and Rue Lambert-Closse is known as Clossy Street.
Hear Quebec English
[edit] See also
• North American Regional Phonology
• North American English
• Newfoundland English
• Maritimer English
• Quebec English
• Pacific Northwest English
• Canadian Shift
• Vowel Shift
• Canadian raising
Maritimer English
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Maritimer English quirks include the removal of pre-consonantal [ɹ] sounds, and a faster speech tempo. It is heavily influenced by both British and Irish English.
An example of typical Maritime English might be the pronunciation of the letter t. The flapping of intervocalic /t/ and /d/ to alveolar tap [ɾ] between vowels, as well as pronouncing it as a glottal stop [ʔ], is less common in the Maritimes. So, battery is pronounced as [bætɹi] instead of with a glottal stop.
Especially among the older generation, /w/ and /ʍ/ are not merged; that is, the beginning sound of why, white, and which is different from that of witch, with, wear.
Also seen is the replacement of [aʊ] with [oʊ]; for example, rhyming "couch" with "poach", instead of "pouch".
Although dialects vary from region to region, especially based on the rural/ urban divide, there are some other commonalities. For example, there is heavy rhoticism on vowels preceding /r/ sounds. Also, low front vowels seem to be lengthened and sometimes tensed, which in some regions can result in raising, and even a very slight rounding of the higher vowels and diphthongs. These phonetic differences are not all systematic: some lexical items do not apply to these rules, so perhaps it the vowel system is in a process of shift, or there could be interference from other, more urban dialects and the media.
While the interrogative "Eh?" is used more often in the Maritimes than in most dialects in the U.S., it is actually relatively uncommon compared to Ontario. Alternatively, one might hear the interrogative "Right?" which is in turn used as an adverb (e.g.: "It was right foggy today!") as well. "Some" is used as an adverb as well, by some people (e.g.: "This cake is some good!"). Such expressions tend to be widely used in the rural maritimes, but are less common in urban areas.
Terms of British origin are very much still a part of Maritime English, although slowly fading away in favour of American or Western terms. Chesterfield and front room are examples of this. Cape Breton Island has a distinct dialect due to settlement by speakers of Acadian French and Scottish Gaelic.
Newfoundland English
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Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Newfoundland English is a name for several dialects of English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, often regarded as the most distinctive dialect of English in Canada. Some specific Newfoundland dialects are similar to the accent heard in the southeast of Ireland, while others are similar to those of West Country England, or a combination of both, mainly due to mass immigration from a limited number of ports in those specific regions.
These separate dialects developed because of Newfoundland's history as well as its geography. Newfoundland was one of the first areas settled by Britain in North America, beginning in small numbers in the early 1600s before peaking in the early 1800s. Most of the population remained rather isolated on the island, allowing the dialects time to develop independently of those on the North American continent.
Newfoundland English was recognized as a separate dialect by the late 1700s when George Cartwright published a glossary of Newfoundland words. Newfoundland remained separate from Canada as a British colony until 1907 when it became an independent country in the Commonwealth. Newfoundland is an island in the Atlantic Ocean separated by the Strait of Belle Isle from the mainland portion of Labrador, a large region of sparsely populated sub-arctic land.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonological and grammatical features
• 2 Other languages and dialects which have influenced Newfoundland English
• 3 Deterioration of the dialectic distinctiveness
• 4 Newfoundland English expressions
• 5 See also
• 6 External links
[edit] Phonological and grammatical features
Some Newfoundland English differs from Canadian English in vowel pronunciation (for example: in much of Newfoundland, the words fear and fair are homophones); in morphology and syntax (for example: in Newfoundland the word bes [bis] is sometimes used in place of the normally conjugated forms of to be to describe continual actions or states of being: that rock usually bes under water instead of that rock usually is under water, but normal conjugation of to be is used in all other cases—bes is likely a carryover of Irish Gaelic grammar into English); in preservation of archaic adverbial-intensifiers (for example: in Newfoundland that play was right boring and that play was some boring both mean "that play was very boring"). Dialect can vary markedly from community to community, as well as from region to region, reflecting ethnic origin as well as a past in which there were few roads and many communities, and fishing villages in particular remained very isolated.
Other marked characteristics of Newfoundland English include the loss of dental fricatives (voiced and voiceless th sounds) in many varieties of the dialect (as in many other non-standard varieties of English—they are usually replaced with the closest voiced or voiceless alveolar stop (t or d)—as well as non-standard or innovative features in verb conjugation. For example, in many varieties, the third-person singular inflection is generalized to a present tense marker (so the verb "to like" is conjugated I likes, you (or dee in one or two communities on the Northeast Coast of the island of Newfoundland) likes, he/she/it likes, we likes, you (or ye in some areas) likes, they (dey) likes).
Another interesting verb form is almost certain to have been taken from Hiberno-English, which, influenced by the Irish language, avoids using the verb to have (Irish doesn't have a verb to have per se). Many Newfoundlanders from all areas will form past participles using after instead of have; for example, I'm after telling him to stop instead of I (have) told him to stop. Another interesting feature is the rounding of long i; the name Mike for example, can sound like "moike".
An interesting phonological feature of Newfoundland English is an affirmative yeah made with an inhalation rather than an exhalation. This is an example of a rare pulmonic ingressive phone.
To non-Newfoundlanders, speakers of Newfoundland English may seem to speak faster than speakers of Canadian English. This perceived tempo difference may be a coupling of subtle pronunciation differences and unusual sayings, and can be a contributing factor to the difficulty non-Newfoundlanders sometimes experience with the dialect.
[edit] Other languages and dialects which have influenced Newfoundland English
There is also a dialect of French centred mainly on the Port au Port Peninsula on the west coast of the island which has had an impact on the syntax of English in the area. One example of these constructs unique to Newfoundland is Throw grandpa down the stairs, his hat, in which the hat makes the trip, not the grandfather. Another is the use of French reflexive constructions in sentences such as the reply to a question like Where are you going?, reply: Me I'm goin' downtown (this reflexive form of grammar also exists in Irish Gaelic); or borrow me your pencil.
Newfoundland French was deliberately discouraged by the Newfoundland government through the public schools during the mid-20th-century, and only a small handful of mainly elderly people are still fluent in the French-Newfoundland dialect. In the last couple of decades, many parents in the region have demanded and obtained French education for their children, but this would be Standard French education and does not represent a continuation of the old dialect per se. Some people living in the Codroy Valley on the south-west tip of the island are also ancestrally Francophone, but represent Acadian settlers from the Maritime Provinces of Canada who arrived during the 19th century. This population has also lost the French language.
The greatest distinction between Newfoundland English and Canadian English is its vocabulary. It includes some Inuit and First Nations words (for example tabanask, a kind of sled), preserved archaic English words no longer found in other English dialects (for example pook, a mound of hay), compound words created from English words to describe things unique to Newfoundland (for example stun breeze, a wind of at least 20 knots (37 km/h)), English words which have undergone a semantic shift (for example rind, the bark of a tree), and unique words whose origins are unknown (for example diddies, a nightmare).
[edit] Deterioration of the dialectic distinctiveness
Newfoundland English dialects are steadily losing their distinctiveness through the action of the mass media and an education system that has traditionally regarded the dialect as a backward corruption of "proper" English. This perception occurs in both the public and private sectors of the system. Institutional education steadily became more and more available and normative after Confederation in 1949. This encouraged many Newfoundlanders, particularly in the urban centres, to take positive steps to ensure their children spoke in a fashion similar to their mainland counterparts lest they be perceived as inferior. This is not to suggest the transformation was always viewed as a necessarily coerced response. Rather, many Newfoundlanders embraced the notion of the inferiority of the dialect in favour of "proper English" as they moved toward an economic system closer to those of the Canadian Mainland. It is tempting to speculate that these persons attached the dialect to a way of life that appeared to be economically untenable and fading fast. In other words, the dialect has fallen victim to notions of "progress". In general, each generation speaks a dialect of English closer to Canadian English though it is significant to note that this trend is far more pronounced in the urban centres. The employment of strict Canadian English can actually hinder the speaker's ability to effectively socially mesh in rural areas as it signifies that the speaker is closely attached with the social structures of the non-rural world. The speaker runs the risk of being treated as a non-community member for an extended period. Pride in Newfoundland language and culture has also encouraged a conscious retention of some obvious Newfoundlandisms, however, and speakers can often be observed switching between standard Canadian English for formal settings and language closer to Newfoundland English for personal communication.
Indeed, the transformation of Newfoundland English offers a case study of the politics of language. On the one hand, Newfoundlanders have learned that to be taken seriously in institutional settings connected to off island structures standard Canadian English is necessary. This also occurred in the pre-confederation period though the adopted dialect was closer to British English reflecting the political circumstances of the day. On the other hand, use of Newfoundland English is used to establish common political identity with other Newfoundlanders in a fashion unavailable to non-Newfoundlanders who have yet to be accepted into the local cultural community. This manner of using language can be readily observed in other socially marginalized populations including persons of African descent in the United States, persons of aboriginal descent from rural areas and persons originating from lower strata in the social class structure in a general sense. Each group must learn to speak the language of the dominant group yet may also derive social benefits from retaining the original dialect when interacting with fellow group members. This perspective lends credence to the complex and contentious argument that Newfoundlanders resemble what conventional wisdom posits as a discrete and unique "ethnic group" quite separate from the ethnicity of the larger population.
[edit] Newfoundland English expressions
In recent years, the most commonly noted Newfoundland English expression might be Whadd'ya at? (What are you at?), loosely translated to "How's it going?" or "What are you doing?" Coming in a close second might be How's she cuttin'? to which one often responds Like a knife (the question/greeting is a phrase still current in the Irish midlands although it is often pronounced as cudding and rarely if ever responded to with such a literal answer). Also pervasive is right which operates as a stand-in for the Canadian eh.
Other colourful local expressions include:
• Where ya to?: Where are you going? or Where are you?
• Stay where you're to 'til I comes where you're at.: Wait there for me.
• Flat on the back for that!: An expression of approval, female speaker
• Get on the go: Let's go (also, a common euphemism for partying)
(Some examples taken from A Biography of the English Language by C.M. Millward)
Also of note is the widespread use of the term b'y as a common form of address.
[edit] See also
• Newfoundland Irish
• List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador
• List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Newfoundland and Labrador
Quebec English
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Quebec English is the common term for the set of various linguistic and social phenomena affecting the use of English in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian Province of Quebec and more specifically in the Greater Montreal Area.
There is reputedly no linguistic evidence for the existence of any distinct regional dialects or varieties of Quebec English, the more so in that there are no distinctive phonological features and very few restricted lexical features common among all first-language speakers of English from or raised in Quebec. Nonetheless, it has been clearly demonstrated that most second-language speakers of English or persons acculturated in an environment in which such speakers dominate, be they francophones or allophones, do use an interlanguage of French and English or a distinct pronunciation arising from social concentration ethnic enclaves. What some perceive as "Quebec English" is thus more likely to consist of the practices by speakers of English who hail from such communities, especially so since alone or together they may outnumber first-language English-speakers, and certainly outnumber those acculturated only among English-speakers and in the English language.
This characteristics are not necessarily unique. Even accounting for Montreal's relatively recent adoption of French as the dominant public language, little apart from small vocabulary differences appears to separate Quebec first-language speakers of English from the greater pan-Canadian and English North American Sprachraum. While first-language speakers of English are a minority only in Quebec (under 10%), they form part of an overwhelming majority both in Canada (67%) and in North America north of the Rio Grande (over 98%), such that there is more American television and music available in Quebec than UK or English-Canadian cultural products combined. This may be one of the reasons why Quebec English has no unifying and unique characteristic that would render it a distinct dialect.
Other reasons include concentration and permeability. With regard to concentration, the vast majority of Quebec-born-and-raised first-language English-speakers (roughly 90%) now live in the Greater Montreal area, a phenomenon that is historically recent. With regard to permeability, a strong influx of Anglophones move to or visit Quebec on an ongoing basis — particularly Montreal, with two major English-language universities and a number of American and Canadian employers (notwithstanding employment laws which require that employers over a certain size must hold company meetings and conduct internal company business in French). In the summer months, similarly roughly half of all tourists are said to be anglophones from the U.S. or from Canadian provinces other than Quebec.
The symbol N@ denotes a language practice which is neither used nor deemed acceptable in English-language writing and broadcasting in Quebec. The same lack of acceptability holds true by any outside-Quebec anglophone's notion of English.
[edit] First-language English-speaker Phenomena
1. The use of French-language toponyms and official names of institutions/organizations which have no English names; this is probably not a uniquely Quebec phenomenon, though, so much as the practice of calling a thing by its name. Though not normally italicized in English written documents, these Quebec words are pronounced as in French, especially in broadcast media. Note that the reverse language status situation holds true when using French in a province such as British Columbia, where many of the province's entities have a designation only in English.
the Régie du Logement[1], the Collège de Maisonneuve
Québec Solidaire, the Parti Québécois
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Trois-Rivières
Particular cases: Pie-IX (as in the boulevard, bridge and métro station) is pronounced /pinœf/ or /pinʌf/, not as "pie nine". On the other hand, sometimes a final written consonant is included or added in pronunciation, where an historic English-language name and pronunciation exists among Anglophone or English-dominant Allophone communities associated with particularly neighbourhoods — such as for "Bernard", which in French is known as rue Bernard. Montreal is always pronounced as an English word, following its historic official English-language name. English-speakers generally pronounce the French Saint- (m.) and Sainte- (f.) in street and place names as the English "saint"; however, Saint-Laurent (the city) can be pronounced as in French /sɛ̃lɔrɑ̃/, whereas Saint Lawrence Boulevard can be pronounced as "/sɛ̃lɔrɑ̃/" (silent t) or as the original English name, Saint Lawrence. Sainte-Foy is pronounced "saint-fwa" /seɪnʔ.fwa/ not "saint-foy" /seɪnʔ.fɔɪ/, which would be used elsewhere in English-speaking North America. Saint-Denis is often pronounced on the Saint model with a silent s in Denis, or as "Saint Dennis". Verdun, as a place name, has the expected English-language pronunciation, /Vɝɹ.'dʌn/, while English-speakers from Verdun traditionally pronounce the eponymous street name as "Verd'n", /'Vɝɹ.dn/. Saint-Léonard, a borough of Montreal, is pronounced "Saint-Lee-o-nard" /seɪnt.li.o.'nɑɹd/, which is reputedly neither English nor French.
Used by both Quebec-born and outside English-speakers, acronyms with the letters pronounced in English, not French, rather than the full name for Quebec institutions and some areas on Montreal Island are common, particularly where the English-language names either are or, historically, were official. For instance, SQ --> Sûreté du Québec (pre-Bill 101: QPP --> Quebec Provincial Police, as it once was; NDG --> Notre-Dame-de-Grâce; DDO --> Dollard-des-Ormeaux;TMR --> Town of Mount Royal, the bilingual town's official English name.
Finally, some French place names are very difficult for English-speakers to say without adopting a French accent, such that those proficient in French nonetheless choose an English pronunciation rather than accent-switching. Examples are Vaudreuil, Belœil and Longueuil in which pronunciation of the segment /œj/ (spelled "euil" or "œil") is a challenge. These are most often pronounced as "voh-droy" /vo.drɔɪ/, "bel-oy" /bɛl.ɔɪ/ and "long-gay" /loŋ.geɪ/ or less often "long-gale" /loŋ.geɪl/.
2. N@ (when written) - The practice of using English versions of place names that may now be officially in French, especially where such place names had official English-language designations. Far from being restricted to monolingual, older English speakers of British Isles ancestry, this practice is particularly common among immigrant communities associated with central Montreal districts and who, as was allowed, were schooled in and acculturated via English-language institutions. Particularly among more recent Anglophone newcomers to Montreal, the practice of regarding only French-language place names as legitimate has grown, giving rise to the surprising phenomenon of recent arrivals correcting long-established Montrealers as to the pronunciation of street names on which entire generations grew up
Pine Avenue, Park Avenue, Mountain Street, Dorchester Blvd. - often used without St., Blvd., Ave., Rd., etc. (names for the designations "avenue des Pins", "ave. du Parc", "rue de la Montagne", "boulevard René-Lévesque"; the English-language official designations have reputedly been revoked, although evidence for this is difficult to find)
Guy and Saint Catherine Streets
Town of Mount Royal, as it was chartered, which charter has not been revoked
Pointe Claire (English pronunciation and typography, instead of official "Pointe-Claire")
3. The use of limited number of Quebec French terms for everyday places (and occasional items) that have English equivalents; all of these are said using English pronunciation or have undergone an English clipping or abbreviation, such that they are regarded as ordinary English terms by Quebeckers. Some of them tend sometimes to be preceded by the definite article in contexts where they could normally take "a(n)".
the dep - instead of corner, variety, or convenience store; from dépanneur
the guichet - instead of bank machine, even when all ATMs are labelled "ATM";
the SAQ - the official name of the government-run monopoly liquor stores (pronounced "ess-ay-cue" or, very rarely, "sack"), the Société des alcools du Québec. This usage is similar to that in other provinces, such as in neighbouring Ontario where liquor stores are referred to as the LCBO (for Liquor Control Board of Ontario).
a vernissage - instead of preview or private viewing or opening at an art gallery
the metro - like the SAQ, this practice consists of calling a thing by its proper name, making it particularly unremarkable; the Paris metro is pronounced similarly, as are the San Diego, and Washington D.C. metros
poutine - french fries with gravy and cheddar cheese curds
cinq à sept - cocktail party, or happy hour in a bar (roughly 5-7 p.m.)
terrasse - the French pronunciation of 'terrace' is common among anglophones in casual speech yet considered incorrect in formal speech. Spelling remains as in English.
4. French-language first and last names using mostly French sounds. Such names may be mispronounced by non-French-speakers, for instance a first-syllable stress or silent-d pronunciation in Bouchard --> /buʃard/. French speakers, as are most Quebec English speakers, are on the other hand more likely to vary pronunciation of this type depending on the manner in which they adopt an English phonological framework.
Mario Lemieux
Marie-Claire Blais
Jean Charest
Jean Chrétien
Robert Charlebois
Céline Dion
This importation of French-language syllabic stresses and phonemes into an English phonological framework may be regarded as interlanguage or translation.
[edit] French-language Phenomena in English (not restricted to Quebec only)
High-frequency, second-language phenomena by francophones, allophones, and generally non-pure-English speakers occur, predictably, in the most basic structures of English. Commonly called "Frenglish" or "franglais", these phenomena are a product of interlanguage, calques or mistranslation and thus may not constitute so-called "Quebec English", to the extent that these can be conceived of separately — particularly since such phenomena are similar among English-subsequent-language French speakers throughout the world, leaving little that is Quebec-specific:
A. N@ - The use of French collocations.
Close the TV - Turn/shut off the TV.
Close the door. - Lock the door.
Open the light. - Turn on the lights.
Take a decision. - Make a decision.
Put your coat. - Put your coat on.
B. N@ - The use of French grammar or no grammatical change. Many of these constructions are grammatically correct but only out of context. It’s both the calquing and transfer from French and the betrayed meanings that make these sentences foreign to English.
He speak/talk to me yesterday. --> He spoke/talked to me yesterday. (verb tense)
Me, I work in Laval. --> I work in Laval. (vocal stress on "I")
It/He have many books. --> There are many books. (from French il y a meaning "there is/are")
I like the beef and the red wine. --> I like beef and red wine. (overuse of definite article to mean "in general")
You speak French? --> Do you speak French? (absence of auxiliary verb; otherwise it means surprise, disbelief or disappointment when out of context)
I don’t find my keys. --> I can’t find my keys. (lack of English modal auxiliary verb)
At this moment I wash the dishes. --> I’m washing the dishes right now. (verbal aspect)
My computer, he don’t work. --> My computer won’t work. (human pronoun, subject repetition, uninflected auxiliary verb)
I would like a brownies. --> Could I have a brownie? (plural –s thought to be part of the singular word in relexification process; other examples: "a Q-tips", "a pins", "a buns", "a Smarties", "a Doritos", etc.)
I would like shrimps with broccolis. -–> Could I have some shrimp and broccoli? (use of regular plural instead of English unmarked plural or non-count noun; this is not a case of hypercorrection but of language transfer).
Do you want to wash the dishes? --> Will/would you wash the dishes? (lack of English modal verb; modal vouloir from French instead - Veux-tu laver la vaisselle?)
C. N@ - Pronunciation of phoneme /ŋ/ as /n/ + /g/ (among some Italian Montrealers) or /n/ + /k/ (among some Jewish Montrealers, especially those who grew up in Yiddish-speaking environments), for instance due to high degrees of ethnic connectivity within, for instance, municipalities, boroughs or neighbourhoods on the Island of Montreal such as Saint-Léonard and Outremont/Côte-des-Neiges/Côte-Saint-Luc. These phenomena occur as well in other diaspora areas such as New York City.
D. N@ - The use of false cognates (faux-amis); this practice is quite common, so much so that those who use them abundantly insist that the false cognate is the English term even outside of Quebec. Note that these French words are all pronounced using English sounds and harbour French meanings. While the possibilities are truly endless, this list provides only the most insidious false cognates found in Quebec.
a stage – an internship (pronounced as in French)
college – Cégep (collège, cégep; collégial, cégepien), the acronym which is the official name of the institution which dispenses college-level technical education and precedes university in Quebec.
Chinese pâté – shepherd's pie (pâté chinois; many French-Canadian Quebeckers do not know that pâté chinois is similar to shepherd's-pie dishes associated with other cultures)
a cold plate – some cold-cuts (reversed gallicism - assiette de viandes froides)
coordinates - for address, phone number, e-mail, etc.
(a) salad – (a head of) lettuce
a subvention – a (government) grant
an acetate – a transparency
a parking – a parking lot/space
a location – a rental
a good placement – a good location
It’s ok. – It’s fine. (from Ça va.)
That’s it. - That is correct. (from C'est ça.)
So-so. – Fine. or Just fine. (also from Ça va.); common in English
Perfect. – Fine or Just fine. (from Parfait.); common in English
Few anglophone Quebeckers use many such false cognates, but most understand such high-frequency words and expressions. Some of these cognates are used by many francophones, and others by many allophones and anglophone accultured in allophone environments, of varying English proficiencies, from the bare-minimum level to native-speaker level.
A francophone with excellent English will often pronounce consonants less harshly and will make less use of the glottal stop, making their speech more fluid.
Bermudian English
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Bermudian English is the variety of English spoken in Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic.
Historically, the variety spoken by the African-Bermudian community (the majority of whom were of lower economic status) was fairly different from that spoken by white Bermudians. To a new listener, the former has something in common with the versions spoken in the West Indies, such as Jamaican English (although these two are actually quite different; that of the Bahamas is the closest match to the Bermudian variety). White Bermudians in turn had a range of varieties, depending partially on social class, as well as the length of time the family had been in Bermuda. The strongest accents had some commonality with that prevalent among African-Bermudians, but was still quite different.
However the islands' relative proximity to the United States meant that US influence, through television and the large number of tourists was (and remains) increasingly strong. The variations common among white Bermudians are now fading, and a more neutral mid-Atlantic sound is now common; the old strong Bermudian accent is now really only heard from the oldest white residents. A very pronounced African-Bermudian accent is still heard from many African-Bermudians, however.
To British ears, Bermudian English among those of higher economic status now sounds similar to American English, although there are affinities with British English, namely the pronunciation of the letter 'z' as 'zed', not 'zee' (also found in Canadian English), and the use of 'football' as opposed to 'soccer', while British spelling is generally followed.
An unusual characteristic of Bermudian English, in people with a strong Bermudian accent, is the pronunciation of 'w' as 'v', hence 'Bermudian words' is pronounced Bermewdjun vurds. Whether coincidentally or relatedly, the phenomenon of confusing 'w' and 'v' sounds is common in many other English dialects including those of the Indian diaspora, as well as in other languages such as Chinese. The letter 'e' is often pronounced as an 'a', hence, 'letter' is pronounced 'latter'.
[edit] Examples:
Here are some examples of what Bermudian English would sound like (note that these examples are slightly exaggerated and sound different when spoken):
"Look bye, we goin dahn to de store, ya wan sumfin?" - Look, we're going down to the store, do you want something?
"All you gotta do to find de gates is go straight dahn de road, den turn laff, rahn de corner." - All you have to do to find the house is go straight down the road, turn left and then go around the corner.
"If you dun want licks bye u bass catch ya self and sit dahn in de chur!" - If you don't want to be punished you should think about the consequences and sit down in the chair!
"Ey dun wher you goin lata?"-Hey where are you going later?
Bahamian dialect
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(Redirected from Bahamian Dialect)
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Bahamas Creole English
Spoken in: Bahamas, United States, Turks and Caicos
Total speakers: 400 000
Language family:
English Creole
Bahamas Creole English
Language codes
ISO 639-1:
none
ISO 639-2:
none
ISO 639-3:
bah
Bahamians speak an English creole or a dialect of English, known in the Bahamas as Bahamian Dialect.
Bahamian creole is spoken by approximately 400,000 people in the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the State of Florida. (Although, the creole spoken in the Turks and Caicos Islands differs slightly from that spoken in the Bahamas).
Most creole languages have a large degree of irregularity making it is difficult to establish clear rules. Bahamian Dialect is no exception.
Variations exists between the various islands, villages or communities on islands. Bahamian Dialect is spoken by both white and black Bahamians, although in slightly different forms. Bahamian Dialect also tends to be more pronounced (i) when spoken by people from the Family Islands, poorer people and people with limited education (ii) in situations of heightened emotion.
Like most creoles, Bahamian Dialect is constantly evolving. Youth slang, in the Bahamas, borrows heavily from Jamaican Creole and African-American "ebonics".
Bahamian Dialect also shares similar features with other Caribbean English creoles, such as Jamaican Creole, Bajan, Trinidadian Creole and Virgin Islands Creole. There is also a very significant link between Bahamian Dialect and the Gullah language of South Carolina, as many Bahamians are descendants of slaves brought to the islands, from the Gullah region, after the American revolution.
In the Bahamas, Bahamian Dialect is not referred to as "Creole." If it were this would probably cause confusion as the Bahamas has a large immigrant Haitian population, whose native tongue is Haitian Creole, a French creole. Some scholars have argued that Bahamian speech has undergone significant 'de-creolisation', as a result of exposure to American media and association of stronger dialect with lack of education as has been witnessed in some other caribbean islands and former colonial societies.
As in many countries where a creole is spoken, educators are divided over whether the creole should be taught in schools. The Ministry of Education currently advises teachers to teach Standard English but encourage ‘enjoyment of and respect for Bahamian Dialect'.
The ability to switch between from Bahamian Dialect and Standard English is common among many Bahamians, a skill artfullly used by many of the nation's politicians 'to connect with the people'.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Pronoun usage
o 1.1 Possessive pronouns
• 2 Verb usage
o 2.1 Irregular Verbs
2.1.1 To go
2.1.2 To do
2.1.3 To be
2.1.4 To like to
o 2.2 Past Tense
2.2.1 To Do
2.2.2 To Go
2.2.3 To Be
• 3 Pronunciation differences
o 3.1 th
o 3.2 oi
o 3.3 v's and w's (Androsian Bahamians)
• 4 Selected words and phrases
o 4.1 Expressions
• 5 Further reading
• 6 See also
[edit] Pronoun usage
Pronouns in Bahamian Dialect are generally the same as in Standard English.
However, the second person plural can take the forms
• yinna,
• y’all or
• all a ya
and the third person plural
• they is pronounced dey.
[edit] Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns in Bahmian Dialect often differ from Standard English with:
• your becoming you, ya, or yuh
• his or hers becoming he or she
• our becoming we; and
• their becoming dey.
For example:
• Das yuh book? (Is that your book?)
• No, das he book (No, that's his book)
• You see we tings? (Have you seen our things?)
• No, but das dey car over dere (No, but that's their car over there)
In addition, the possessive pronouns mine, yours (sing.), his, hers, ours, yours (plur) and theirs often become mine's, yorns, he own, she own, we own, yinna's and dey own or des.
For example: Who book dis is? (Whose book is this?)
• mine's (my own)
• yorns (yours)
• he own (his)
• we own (ours)
• yinnas (yours)
• dey own (theirs)
• des (theirs)
Bahamians have a separate pronoun form for describing actions done alone or by a single group or party:
• only me one sing (I'm the only one who sang)
• only you one was dere (You were the only one there)
• only him one went (He was the only one who went)
• only we one gone (We were the only ones who went)
• dey the only ones dat come (They were the only ones who came)
This can also be applied when the proper noun is used:
• Only Mary one gone to Nassau (Mary was the only one who went to Nassau)
[edit] Verb usage
Verb usage in the Bahamian Dialect differs significantly from that of Standard English.
Often a number of different alternatives exist for the same Standard English verb.
[edit] Irregular Verbs
[edit] To go
The verb "to go" is expressed in a number of different ways in Bahamian Dialect. There are no apparent rules but note the following examples:
1) I'm going to Freeport:
• I goin ta Freepo(r)t
• I gern ta Freepo(r)t
• I gun go to Freepo(r)t
• I gwine go to Nassau
2) I am going to cook (some food)
• I ga cook
• I gon cook
• I goin cook
• I gern cook
[edit] To do
The verb "to do" has numerous variations depending on tense and context.
For example:
• I does do dat (I do that)
• I is eat conch erry day (I eat conch everyday)
• Wot you does do? (What kind of work do you do?)
In these previous example, the verb "to be" can be substituted for the verb "to do", in that the word "does" can be replaced with the word "is". For example: I is do dat"
The verbs "to do" and "to be" can be combined for effect, as in She is don’t like dat (She doesn’t like that)
[edit] To be
In the present tense, the verb "to be" is usually conjugated "is" regardless of the grammatical person:
• I am – I is
• You are – you is
• We are – we is
• They are – dey is
In addition, note:
• I is can be pronounced I's (sounds like: "eyes")
• We is - We's
The negative of the verb "to be" usually takes the form ain" (short for ain't") I ain' going (I am not goin)
[edit] To like to
When the verb "to like" is combined with an infinitive, the "to" in the infinitive is usually dropped.
• He like sing" (He likes to sing)
• She like tell lies (She likes to tell lies/She lies a lot)
[edit] Past Tense
Generally, the past tense, of a verb, in Bahamian Dialect is formed by combining the present tense, of the verb, in Standard English with a word or words that indicate that the action happened in the past.
For example:
• I drink plenny rum las night (I drank a lot of rum last night)
• I eat peas an rice today (I ate peas 'n' rice today)
[edit] To Do
The past tense in Bahamian English can also be formed by combining:
• "did" with the present tense of the relevant Standard English verb:
o I did eat peas an rice yes'dee (I ate peas 'n' rice yesterday)
o 'We did see dem at the t'ea-et-er (We saw them at the theater)
o She did tell him already (She already told him)
• "done" with the past tense of the Standard English verb:
o I done told you
In this instance, "done" usefully indicates "already" but "done" may also be used in conjunction with the word "already" as in
• I done did dat already
However, it is also possible to combine "done" with the present tense of a Standard English verb to form the past tense in Bahamian Dialect:
• I done give him back he book
[edit] To Go
In addition, the word "gone" with the present tense or past tense of the relevant verb to form the past tense.
• He gone tell her she was fat (He told her she was fat)
• Why you gone do dat? (Why did you do that?)
[edit] To Be
Similarly, the word "been" can be combined with the present tense or past tense of the relevant verb to form the past tense.
• He gone tell her she was fat (He told her she was fat)
• Why you gone done dat? (Why did you do that?)
• Why you been do dat? (Why did you do that?)
• I been Eleuthera last week (I was in Eleuthera last week)
[edit] Pronunciation differences
[edit] th
The sound "th" is usually pronounced "d" or "t" as in
• dis (this)
• dat (that)
• T'ursdee (Thursday)
• t'irty (thirty)
• t'ink (think)
• t'ree (three)
[edit] oi
The sound "oi" often becomes "er" "ur"
• oil – url or erl
• boil – burl
• going – gern
[edit] v's and w's (Androsian Bahamians)
The pronunciation of v's and w's is often inverted.
• wash - vash
• what - vat
• Wednesday - vensdee or "wensdee"
[edit] Selected words and phrases
asue or asue draw
• noun: a form of savings where a group of people pay an agreed sum of money on a periodic basic (usually monthly) and each period one member of the group takes all the money that has been paid in (i.e. "draws" their share). This practice has been traced to a Yoruba credit system, similar schemes are common in other caribbean countries, eg. the susu in Barbados
benny
• noun: sesame seeds - as in Benny Cake, a popular snack. Origin: West African, still used in Ghana.
bey
• pronoun: boy (e.g. Bey wa ya say?)
biggety
• adjective: bossy
boonghee
• noun: a person's ass/arse
brought-upcy
• noun: the state of being well mannered. From "brought up well".
also no broughtupcy meaning: ill-mannered, or not "well raised"
broke up or bruck up
• adjective: broken
wheh you goin wit dese bruck up tings? (where are you going with those broken things?)
bubby
• noun: a woman's breast (but note also conch bubby being a part of a conch)
to buck up
• verb: to crash into something
to check
• verb: to care, (e.g. I ain' checking for them)
chile or chil'
• noun: child
chil'en chi'ren or chirrens
• noun: children
cock-eye
• adjective: cross-eyed
Conchy Joe (pronounced kunk-y joe)
• noun: white Bahamian (sometimes derogatory, originally used to refer to the poorest whites). Originally from Eleuthra where in breeding among whites who came over as Loyalists in Revolutionary War times did not want to mix with the black population. It has come to mean more that the person is white and dumb, but it is often very derogatory and dismissive.
crabby
• noun: vagina
cut hip, cut skin, cut ass
• noun: a beating or whipping
to cut [someone's] hip/ass
• verb: to give someone a spanking, beating or whipping
cut eye
• verb: to glare or look with disproval, a pan-creole expression, found in most atlantic creoles, eg. hatian coupezuex of the same meaning.
doggy
• noun: penis
grabbalicious/ gravillicious
• adjective: greedy. Origin: from the verb "to grab"
hip
• noun: a person's ass/arse
jam up
• crowded (similar to jam packed)
(e.g. adjective: it was all jam up in there)
(e.g. verb: he try to jam the car up in dat small spot)
jitney
• noun: a public transport bus. Origin: Standard English
to jook
• verb: to stab or to poke
• verb: (sexual, obscene) to penetrate
lowness
• noun: a low blow
a person who makes the low blow is said to throw lowness
a person who accepts the low blow is said to take lowness, alternatively a person can not take lowness or, in general, take no lowness
mussy
• must be (e.g. he mussy smart - he must be smart)
nanny
• noun: feces/faeces
• verb: to defecate (origin : From Ashanti Twi word of the same meaning)
nigga
• noun: man
(While it certainly can be, this word is generally not used, in the Bahamas, as a racial slur)
nay
• negation: no (to not have) (e.g I ain gat nay fridge)
potcake
• noun:
1. a mutt or mongrel dog (i.e. a dog of no discernible breed)
2. (less commonly) rice that hardens at the bottom of a pot
quarm
• verb: to walk proudly
sip sip or to sip sip
• noun: gossip
• verb: to be gossiping (e.g. dey was sip sipping about you)
to spry or to be sprying
• verb: to rain lightly (i.e. spitting, sprinkling)
to study
• verb: to care or be concerned (e.g. I don't have you to study)
toonkie
• noun: vagina
yinna
• pronoun: you (plural). Origin: from the Yoruba word ‘yin’
to yuck
• verb: to pull (e.g. he yuck dat door open)
[edit] Expressions
ain't for that
• to disagree with something, usually a course of action (similar to I'm not up for that)
chile please!
• an expression of shock, amazment or displeasure.
(e.g. Betty pregnant? well chile please!)
d'ain no true
• that ain't or isn't true
ain no ting or da ain nuttin
• its not imortant or dont worry
head ain't good!
• not too smart or a little crazy, as in "not right in the head"
(e.g. don't pay too much attention to him, his head ain't good)
(e.g. you better not mess with her, her head ain't too good)
kill me
• used when some thing is funny or shocking
(e.g. Gal you is kill me when you do dat)
likes ta die
• similar to kill me
(e.g. bey i likes ta die when da clown sta't tellin' he jokes.)
(e.g. I come to dis house to dead!)
right chere/cha
• right here (e.g. da car was right chere)
well muddo or well mudda sick
• an exclamation of surprise, shock or amazement (used similarly to "oh my god" or "wow")
to yuck up [someone's] wexation (n.b. square brackets are editorial and used to indicate missing/replaceable material)
• to make someone angry
Caribbean English
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Greater Caribbean English is a broad term for the dialects of the English language spoken in the Caribbean, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana. Caribbean English is influenced by the English-based Creole spoken there, but they are not one and the same. In the Caribbean, there is a great deal of variation in the way English is spoken. Scholars generally agree that although the dialects themselves vary significantly in each of these countries, they all have roots in 17th-century English and African languages.
Examples of the English in daily use in the Caribbean include a reduced set of pronouns, typically, me, meh, or mi, you, yuh, we, wi or alawe, he, she, and dem or day. Deh for "them" with Central Americans. Dropping the "h" in th- words is common. Some might be "sing-songish" (Trinidad, Bahamas), rhotic (Bajan, Guyanese), influenced by Irish English dialects (Jamaican), or have an accent influenced by any of these, as well as Spanish and indigenous languages in the case of the Central American English dialects. However, the English used in media, education and business and in formal or semi-formal discourse is the International Standard variety with a Caribbean cadence.
Standard English - Where is that boy?
(Note: "is" is dropped or not existent)
• Barbados - Where dat boy at?
• Jamaica, Tobago, St. Vincent and Antigua and Barbuda- (Ah) weh dah bwoy deh?
• Trinidad and Bahamas - Weh dat boy is?
• Guyana - (Ah) Weh dah bai deh?.
• Belize, Panama, Miskito Coast and other Central Americans - Weh dah bwai deh?
• Virgin Islands - Wha pah dah boy deh?
The written form of the language in the former and current British West Indies conforms to spelling and grammar styles of Britain and the rest of the Commonwealth rather than those of the United States.
Caribbean countries where English is an official language or where English-based creole languages are widespread include:
• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• British Virgin Islands
• Cayman Islands
• Colombia (San Andres and Providencia islands)
• Costa Rica
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Honduras (Bay Islands)
• Jamaica
• Montserrat
• Netherlands Antilles (St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius)
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• U.S. Virgin Islands
American English is an official language in Puerto Rico, although Spanish is the main language of the local government and population
Belizean Kriol language
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(Redirected from Belizean Creole)
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Belizean Kriol/Creole
Spoken in: Belize, United States
Total speakers: First language: 165,051
Second language: 158,000
Language family:
English Creole
Belizean Kriol/Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-1:
none
ISO 639-2:
none
ISO 639-3:
bzj
Belizean Creole, also called Belizean Kriol, Kriol or Belizean, is closely related to Miskito Coastal Creole, Rio Abajo Creole, Colón Creole, and San Andrés and Providencia Creole.
Kriol was historically spoken by the Belizean Creoles, of mixed African and British ancestry. Currently, Kriol has about 350,000 speakers, mainly in Belize (70% of the population, where it is the lingua franca) and in the Belizean diaspora, mostly in the United States. Fluency in Kriol is said to be the mark of a "true Belizean".
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Linguistic Biography
• 2 Phonology
o 2.1 Consonants
o 2.2 Vowels
• 3 Morphology
o 3.1 Tense
o 3.2 Aspect
3.2.1 The Progressive Aspect
3.2.2 The Habitual Aspect
3.2.3 The Completive Aspect
o 3.3 Mood and Voice
3.3.1 Conditional
3.3.2 Passive Voice
o 3.4 Verb Usage
3.4.1 Special Verbs
o 3.5 Noun Usage
3.5.1 Plural Formation
o 3.6 Pronouns
3.6.1 Subject Pronouns
3.6.2 Object Pronouns
• 4 Syntax
o 4.1 Syntactic Ordering
o 4.2 Locatives
o 4.3 Noun + Pronoun
o 4.4 Adjectives
o 4.5 Adverbs
o 4.6 Conjunctions
o 4.7 Negation
o 4.8 Interrogatives
• 5 "Examples"
• 6 See also
• 7 External links
[edit] Linguistic Biography
Belizean Creole is a creole language deriving mainly from English with little influence from Spanish. Its substrate languages are the Native American language Mískito, and West African languages which were brought into the country by slaves. The pidgin that emerged due to the contact of English landowners and their West African slaves to ensure basic communication was extended over the years. Jamaicans were also brought to the colony, further adding to the vocabulary, and eventually it became the mother tongue of the slaves' children born in Belize.
This creolization occurred around 1680-1700, when the British were firmly settled in the Caribbean. It was not, however, the Belizean Creole known today, but the so-called Mískito Coast Creole which developed into the Belizean Creole, or Kriol, over the years.
Today, Belizean Creole is the native language of the majority of the country's inhabitants. Many of them speak standard English as well, and a rapid process of decreolization is going on. As such, a creole continuum exists and speakers are able to code-switch among various mesolect registers between the most basilect to the acrolect (i.e Standard American English) varieties. It should noted that the acrolect, much like the basilect, is rarely heard.
[edit] Phonology
Kriol is significantly similar to many Caribbean English dialects as far as phonology and spelling is concerned. Many of its words and structures are especially similar to English, on which it is based both lexically and phonologically.
Phonologically, Belizean Creole is a perfect example of creole languages in the Caribbean and, partly, everywhere else. Like them, it uses a high amount of nasalized vowels, palatalizes non-labial stops and prenasalizes voiced stops. Moreover, pidgins have a general tendency to simplify the phonology of a language in order to ensure successful communication. Many creoles keep this tendency after creolization. Belizean Creole is no exception in this point. Unlike most creoles, Kriol has a standardized orthography.
1. Like every other creole language, Kriol has a tendency to an open syllabic structure, meaning there are a lot of words ending in vowels. This feature is strengthened by its tendency to delete consonants at the end of words, especially when the preceding vowel is unstressed.
2. Nasalization is phonemic in Belizean Creole, caused by the deletion of final nasal consonants. The nasal feature is kept, even if the consonant has been dropped.
3. Many Kriol speakers tend to palatalize the velar consonants /g/ and /k/. Sometimes they also palatalize alveolar consonants, such as /t/, /d/, and /n/.
4. Like all other creoles, Kriol also has a tendency to reduce consonant clusters no matter where they occur. Final consonant clusters are almost always reduced by dropping the second consonant. Initial and medial occurrences are reduced much less consistently.
5. When /r/ occurs finally, it is always deleted. When it occurs in the middle of a word, it is often deleted leaving a residual vowel length.
6. Although its superstrate language, English, makes extensive use of dental fricatives (/θ/ /ð/), Belizean Kriol does not use them. It rather employs the alveolars /t/ and /d/. However, due to the ongoing process of decreolization, some speakers include such dental fricatives in their speech.
7. Unstressed initial vowels are often deleted in Kriol. Sometimes this can lead to a glottal stop instead.
8. Vowels tend to be alternated for the ones used in English, f.i. /bwai/ or /bwoi/ (boy) becomes /boi/, /angri/ (angry) becomes /ængri/ and so on.
[edit] Consonants
Kriol uses three voiced plosives (/b/ /d/ /g/) and three voiceless plosives(/p/ /t/ /k/). The voiceless stops can also be aspirated. However, aspiration is not a constant feature, therefore the aspirated and non-aspirated forms are allophonic. The language employs three nasal consonants, (/m/ /n/ /ŋ/). It makes extensive use of fricatives and, both unvoiced (/f/ /s/ /ʂ/) and voiced (/v/ /z/ /ʐ/. Its two liquids, /l/ and /r/, are articulated alveo-palatally. The tongue is more lax here than in American English, its position is more similar to British English. Kriol's glides /w/, /j/, and /h/ are used extensively. Glottal stops occur rarely and inconsistently.
[edit] Vowels
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
Belizean Creole makes use of eleven vowels; nine monophthongs, three diphthongs and schwa [ə]. The most frequently occurring diphthong, /ai/ is used in all regional varieties. Both /au/ and /oi/ can occur, but they are new additions and are viewed as a sign of decreolization. The same is perceived of four of the less productive monophthongs.
[edit] Morphology
[edit] Tense
The present tense verb is not marked overtly in Kriol. It also does not indicate number or person. As an unmarked verb, it can refer both to present and to past. Equally, it is not necessary to mark past tense overtly. The English past tense marker |d| indicates acrolectal speech. However, there is the possibility to mark preterite tense by putting the tense marker |mi| before the verb. Overt marking is rare, however, if the sentence includes a semantic temporal marker, such as "yestudeh" (yesterday) or "laas season" (last season).
The future tense is indicated by employing the preverbial marker |wah| or |ah|. Unlike the marking of past tense, this marking is not optional.
[edit] Aspect
[edit] The Progressive Aspect
The preverbial marker |di| expresses the progressive aspect in both past and present tense. However, if the past is not marked overtly (lexically or by using |mi|), an unambiguous understanding is only possible in connection to context. |di| is always mandatory. In past progressive, it is possible to achieve an unambiguous meaning by combining |mi| + |di| + verb.
Progressive action in the future can be expressed by using |bi| in conjunction with |wɑ| . The correct combination here would be |wɑ| + |bi| + verb.
[edit] The Habitual Aspect
Belizean Creole does not have a habitual aspect in its own right. Many other creoles have a general tendency to merge the habitual with completive, progressive or future, Kriol however, does not clearly merge it with anything. Thus, we can only assume that the habitual is expressed through context and not through morphological marking.
[edit] The Completive Aspect
The completive aspect is expressed either without marking, that is, by context only, or by the use of a completive preverbial markers, such as //mi//, //don// or //finish//.
[edit] Mood and Voice
[edit] Conditional
The conditional mood is expressed through the conditional verbs //wuda//, //mi-wa//, and //mia//. The short version //da// is employed only in the present tense, past tense requires the longer forms.
[edit] Passive Voice
There is no overt lexical marking of active and passive in Belizean Creole. It is only the emphasis of a sentence which can clarify the meaning, together with context. Emphasis can be strengthened by adding emphatic markers, or through repetition and redundancy.
[edit] Verb Usage
[edit] Special Verbs
There are four forms of "be" in Belizean Creole: //de//, //di//, and the absence of a marker. The equative form //di// is used as a copula (when the complement of the verb is either a noun or a noun phrase). //de// is the locative form which is used when the verb's complement is a prepositional phrase. No overt marking is used when the complement is an adjective. //di//, finally, is used in the progressive aspect.
The verb "to go" is irregular in Belizean Creole, especially when set in the future progressive. It does not use the progressive marker //di// but is exchanged by the morpheme and //gwein//. In past tense, this is similar: instead of employing //mi//, it uses the lexical item //gaan//.
A verb which is used extensively in each conversation is //mek//. It can be used like a modal in casual requests, in threats and intentional statements, and, of course, like the standard verb "to make".
[edit] Noun Usage
[edit] Plural Formation
Plurals are usually formed in Kriol by inserting the obligatory postnomial marker //de//. Variations of this marker are //den// and //dem//. As decreolization is processing, the standard English plural ending //-s// occurs far more frequently. Sometimes, the //de// is added to this form, f.i. in "shoes de" - shoes.
The absence of a plural marker occurs rarely.
[edit] Pronouns
[edit] Subject Pronouns
The subject pronouns are used in the same way as they are in English.
I - I (occasionally me in negations)
yu' - you (sing.)
(h)î - he, it (she in basilect)
hî - he (Mesolectal variation)
shî - she (Mesolectal variation)
de(m)/de(n) - they or those
dende - those/literally "them there"
unu - you (pl.)
wi - we
alawe - we (pl.)
[edit] Object Pronouns
mee - me; I
mi/my/mines - my, mine, mines
yu - you (sing.)
ih/shi - he/she
hee/shee - exclamated he/she
ah - him, her
deh/dem/den - them
unu - you (pl.)
wi/ wee - us
[edit] Syntax
[edit] Syntactic Ordering
The construction of sentences in Belizean Creole is very similar to that in English. It uses a Subject-Verb-Object order (SVO). All declarative and most interrogative sentences follow this pattern, the interrogatives with a changed emphasis. The construction of the phrases follows in many ways Standard English.
[edit] Locatives
Locatives are more frequently used in Belizean Creole and much more productive than in Standard English. The general locative is expressed by the morpheme //dah// ("at" or "to"). It is possible to use //to// or //pon// (on) instead. This is either an indication of emphasis or of decreolization. Another morpheme which is more specific than //dah// is //inna// (into). It is used in contexts where //dah// is not strong enough.
Together with the verb "look", however, //dah// is not used and denoted as incorrect. To express "to look at", it is wrong to say "look dah". The correct version would be "look pon" or "look-at".
[edit] Noun + Pronoun
In a noun phrase, Belizean Creole can employ a structure of both noun and pronoun to create emphasis. The ordering then is noun + pronoun + verb (f.i. "mista filip kno di ansa" - Mr Philip knows the answer).
[edit] Adjectives
Adjectives are employed predicatively and attributively. They can be intensified either by the postposed adverb modifier //bad//, by iteration, or by the use of the adverb modifier //onli//. Iteration is here the usual way. Comparatives and superlatives are constructed according to morphosyntactic rules. A comparative is made by adding //-ah// to the stem ("taal" - "taala" - tall). The morpheme //den// is employed to form comparative statements, f.i. "hî tɑlɑ den hɑ" - He is taller than her. Superlatives are created b adding //-es// to the stem. In all cases, the use of the definite article //di// is obligatory. The copula is present if the superlative is used predicatively. An example could be: "She dah di taales" - She is the tallest.
[edit] Adverbs
Adverbs are used much like they are in Standard English. In almost all cases, they do not differ from adjectives in form, but in function. There are, however a few exceptions, such as "properli" (properly), "e:li" (early) or "po:li" (poorly). Adverbs can be intensified by reduplication.
[edit] Conjunctions
Most Kriol conjunctions are very similar to English and employed in the same way. The main difference is that Belizean Creole allows double negation, so that some conjunctions are used differently. Some examples for Belizean conjunctions are: "an" (and), "but" (but), "if" (if), "o:" (or) etc.
[edit] Negation
Negation is expressed by placing //no// before the verb phrase. This marker immediately precedes any employed tense markers. The morpheme //neva// can also be employed to express the habitual aspect. //neva// means did not
[edit] Interrogatives
The question words found in Kriol are:
why - why
who - who
fi-who - for who, whose
weh; wat; wah - what/where
weh - what/where (past tense)
which - which
weh - that
Questions usually take the same form in Belizean Creole as they do in Standard English: question word + subject + verb. The "do-support" does not occur here either. The rising intonation at the end of the sentence may increase even more if no question word is necessary. Thus, most declarative sentences can become interrogative with the right intonation. "Which" has various translations in Belizean Creole. If the speaker means "which", he uses //which//, but he can also use //which one// for "which one".
[edit] "Examples"
• My name is...: (mesolect) My name dah... or (basilect) I naym...
• What time is it? Weh taim now?
• I don’t know: I noh know or Me noh know
• What is it?: (Dah) Weh dis? or "Weh dat?"
• Where am I?: Weh I deh?
• I don't understand : I (or me) nuh andastan
• I don't speak ...: I noh speak
• Where's the bathroom?: Weh di batroom deh?
• What is your name?: (mesolect) Wat dah yu naym? (basilect) How yu naym?" ;Weh yu naym?
See also batty boy.
Jamaican English
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This article has been tagged since December 2005.
Jamaican English or Jamaican Standard English is a dialect of English encompassing in a unique way, parts and mergers of both American English and British English dialects. Typically it uses British English spellings but does not reject American English spellings.[1]
Although the distinction between the two is best described as a continuum rather than a solid line,[2] it is not to be confused with what linguists call Jamaican Creole, nor with the vocabulary and language usage of the Rastafarian movement.[3] ("Patois" is a French term referring to regional languages of France, which include some creole languages, but in Jamaica it refers to Jamaican Creole, which Jamaicans have traditionally seen as "broken" or incorrect Standard English). Jamaican is generally considered to be a Creole language. Most modern linguists hold the view that Creoles are full languages.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Grammar
• 2 Vocabulary
• 3 Pronunciation
• 4 Language use: Standard versus Creole
• 5 References
[edit] Grammar
Jamaican Standard English is grammatically similar to British Standard English (see British English). Recently, however, due to Jamaica's proximity to the United States and the resulting close economic ties and high rates of migration (as well as the ubiquity of American cultural/entertainment products such as movies, cable television and popular music) the influence of American English has been increasing steadily. As a result, structures like "I don't have" or "you don't need" are almost universally preferred over "I haven't got" or "you needn't".
[edit] Vocabulary
Recent American influence is even more obvious in the lexicon (babies sleep in "cribs" and wear "diapers" [or "pampers"]; some people live in "apartments" or "townhouses", for example). Generally, older vocabulary tends to be British (babies wear "nappies", not "diapers"; cars have "bonnets" and "windscreens"; children study "maths", use "rubbers" to erase their mistakes and wish they were on "holiday"), while newer phenomena are typically "imported" together with their American names.
An interesting use of mixed British and American vocabulary is with automobiles, where the American term "trunk" is almost universally used instead of the British term "boot", the British word "sleeping policeman" is used instead of the American word "Speed Bump" , while the engine covering is always referred to by the British term "bonnet". This is probably because the American term, "hood", is used in Jamaica as a vulgar slang for penis, probably as an abbreviation of "manhood".
Naturally, Jamaican Standard also uses many local words borrowed from Jamaican Creole (such as "duppy" for "ghost"; "higgler" for "informal vendor"; and of course lots of words referring to local produce and food items - "ackee", "callaloo", "guinep", "bammy").
[edit] Pronunciation
Main article: Phonemic differentiation.
The most noticeable aspect of Jamaican English for speakers of other varieties of English is the pronunciation or "accent". In many ways, the accent bears great resemblance to that of southern Ireland, particularly Cork, possibly a remnant of Jamaica's former colonial ties. Jamaican Standard pronunciation, while it differs greatly from Jamaican Creole pronunciation, is nevertheless recognizably Caribbean. Giveaway features include the characteristic pronunciation of the diphthong in words like "cow", which is more closed and rounded than in Standard British or American English; the pronunciation of the open-mid back unrounded vowel (IPA: [ʌ], like in "but")(again, more closed than the SB or AE version, though not as closed as in the Creole); semi-rhoticity, i.e. the dropping of the "-r" in words like "water" (at the end of unstressed syllables) and "market" (before a consonant); but not in words like "car" or "dare" (stressed syllables at the end of the word). Merger of the diphthongs in "fair" and "fear" takes place both in Jamaican Standard and Jamaican Creole, resulting in those two words (and many others, like "bear" and "beer") becoming homophones. (Standard speakers typically pronounce both closer to "air", while Creole speakers render them as "ear"). The short "a" sound (man, hat) is very open, similar to its Irish or Scottish versions.
[edit] Language use: Standard versus Creole
Jamaican Standard and Jamaican Creole exist side by side in the island in a typical diglossic pattern (see diglossia). Creole is used by most people for everyday, informal situations - it's the language most Jamaicans use at home and are most familiar with (and is closest to their hearts); it's also the language of most local popular music. Standard, on the other hand, is the language of education, high culture, government, the media and official/formal communications. It's also the native language of a small minority of Jamaicans (typically upper class and upper/traditional middle class). Most Creole-dominant speakers have a fair command of Standard English, through schooling and exposure to official culture and mass media; their receptive skills (understanding of Standard English) are typically much better than their productive skills (their own intended Standard English statements often show signs of Creole interference).
Most writing in Jamaica is done in Standard English (including private notes and correspondence). Jamaican Creole has a standardized spelling and has only recently been taught in some schools. As a result, the majority of Jamaicans can read and write Standard English only, and have trouble deciphering written dialect (in which the writer tries to reflect characteristic structures and pronunciations to differing degrees, without compromising readability). Written Creole appears mostly in literature, especially in folkloristic "dialect poems"; in humoristic newspaper columns; and most recently, on internet chat sites frequented by younger Jamaicans, who seem to have a more positive attitude toward their own language use than their parents.[4]
While, for the sake of simplicity, it is customary to describe Jamaican speech in terms of Standard versus Creole, that a clear-cut dichotomy does not adequately describe the actual language use of most Jamaicans. Between the two extremes -"broad Patois" on one end of the spectrum, and "perfect" Standard on the other - there are various in-between varieties. This situation typically results when a Creole language is in constant contact with its standard (superstrate or lexifier language) and is called a creole speech continuum. The least prestigious (most Creole) variety is called the basilect; the Standard (or high prestige) variety the acrolect; and in-between versions are known as mesolects.
Consider, for example, the following forms:
• "Me a wok ova de-so" (basilect)
• "Im workin' ova de-so" (low mesolect)
• "Me is workin' over dere" or "(H)e (h)is workin' over dere", "(high mesolect)
He is working over there." (acrolect)
(As noted above, the "r" in "over" is not pronounced in any variety, but the one in "dere" or "there" is.)
Jamaicans choose from the varieties available to them according to the situation. A Creole-dominant speaker will choose a higher variety for formal occasions like official business or a wedding speech, and a lower one for relating to friends; a Standard-dominant speaker is likely to employ a lower variety when shopping at the market than at her workplace. Code-switching can also be metaphoric (e.g., a Standard-dominant speaker switching to a lower variety for humoristic purposes, or to express solidarity).
Australian English
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Jump to: navigation, search
Australian English (AuE) is the form of the English language used in Australia.[1]
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Irish influences
• 3 Phonology
• 4 Vocabulary
• 5 Spelling
• 6 Varieties of Australian English
• 7 Use of words by Australians
• 8 Samples of Australian English
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 11 External links
[edit] History
Australian English began to diverge from British English soon after the foundation of the colony of New South Wales (NSW) in 1788. The settlement was intended mainly as a penal colony. The British convicts sent to Australia were mostly from large English cities, such as Cockneys from London. Amongst the original immigrants there were also many free settlers, military personnel and administrators and their families. In 1827, Peter Cunningham, in his book Two Years in New South Wales, reported that native-born white Australians spoke with a distinctive accent and vocabulary, albeit with a strong Cockney influence. (The transportation of convicts to Australian colonies ended in 1868, but immigration of free settlers from Britain continued unabated.)
The first Australian gold rushes in the 1850s resulted in a much larger wave of immigration that also had a significant influence on Australian English. At the time, Britain and Ireland were experiencing major economic hardship and about two per cent of their combined populations emigrated to NSW and the Colony of Victoria during the 1850s.[2] At the same time, large numbers of people who spoke English as a second language were also arriving.
The "Americanisation" of Australian English — signified by the borrowing of words, spellings, terms, and usages from North American English — began during the goldrushes, and was accelerated by a massive influx of United States military personnel during World War II. Since the 1950s, there has been an increasing availability and importation of mass media content written in US English, such as books and magazines, television programs, computer software and the world wide web; this has also had an effect. As a result Australians use many British and American words interchangeably, such as "pants"/"trousers" and "lift"/"elevator".
Due to their shared history and geographical proximity, Australian English is most similar to New Zealand English. However, the difference between the two spoken versions is obvious to people from either country, if not to a casual observer from a third country (as with Canadian and US English). The vocabulary used also exhibits some striking differences.
[edit] Irish influences
There is some influence from Hiberno-English, but perhaps not as much as might be expected given that many Australians are of Irish descent. One such influence is the pronunciation of the name of the letter "H" as "haitch" /hæɪtʃ/, which can sometimes be heard amongst speakers of "Broad Australian English", rather than the unaspirated "aitch" /æɪtʃ/ more likely to be heard in South Australia and common in New Zealand, most of Britain and North America. This is thought to be the influence of Irish Catholic priests and nuns[citation needed].
Other Irish influences include the non-standard plural of "you" as "youse" /jʉːz/, sometimes used informally in Australia, and the expression "good on you" or "good onya". Of these the former is common in parts of North America and the latter is encountered in New Zealand English and British English. Another Irish influence is use of the word 'me' replacing 'my', such as in the phrase Where's me hat? This usage is generally restricted to informal situations.
[edit] Phonology
Main article: Australian English phonology
Australian English is a non-rhotic dialect. The Australian accent is most similar to that of New Zealand and is also similar to accents from the South-East of Britain, particularly those of Cockney and Received Pronunciation. As with most dialects of English, it is distinguished primarily by its vowel phonology.[3]
Australian English vowels are divided into two categories: long, which includes long monophthongs and diphthongs, and short, all of which are monophthongs. The short vowels mostly correspond to the lax vowels used in analyses of Received Pronunciation with the long vowels corresponding to its tense vowels as well as its centralising diphthongs. Unlike most varieties of English, it has a phonemic length distinction: a number of vowels differ only by the length.
Australian English consonants are similar to those of other non-rhotic varieties of English. In comparison to other varieties, it has a flapped variant of /t/ and /d/ in similar environments as in American English. Many speakers have also coalesced /tj/ and /dj/ into /tʃ/ and /dʒ/, with pronunciations such as /tʃʉːn/ being standard.
[edit] Vocabulary
Main article: Australian English vocabulary
Look up Appendix:Australian English vocabulary in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Australian English incorporates many terms that Australians consider to be unique to their country. One of the best-known of these is outback which means a remote, sparsely-populated area. The similar bush can mean either native forests or country areas in general. However, both terms are historically widely used in many English-speaking countries. Many such words, phrases or usages originated with the British convicts transported to Australia. Many words used frequently by country Australians are, or were, also used in all or part of England, with variations in meaning. For example: a creek in Australia, as in North America, is any stream or small river, whereas in England it is a small watercourse flowing into the sea; paddock is the Australian word for a field, while in England it is a small enclosure for livestock and; wooded areas in Australia are known as bush or scrub, as in North America, while in England, they are commonly used only in proper names (such as Shepherd's Bush and Wormwood Scrubs). Australian English and several British English dialects (for example, Cockney, Scouse or Geordie) also both use the word mate to mean a close friend of the same gender and increasingly with platonic friend of the opposite sex (rather than the conventional meaning of "a spouse"), although this usage has also become common in some other varieties of English.
The origins of other terms are not as clear, or are disputed. Dinkum (or "fair dinkum") means "true", or when used in speech: "is that true?", "this is the truth!", and other meanings, depending on context and inflection. It is often claimed that dinkum dates back to the Australian goldrushes of the 1850s, and that it is derived from the Cantonese (or Hokkien) ding kam, meaning "top gold". However, scholars give greater credence to the notion that it originated with a now-extinct dialect word from the East Midlands in England, where dinkum (or dincum) meant "hard work" or "fair work", which was also the original meaning in Australian English.[4] The derivation dinky-di means a 'true' or devoted Australian. The words dinkum or dinky-di and phrases like true blue are widely purported to be typical Australian sayings, however these sayings are more commonly used in jest or parody rather than as an authentic way of speaking.
Similarly, g'day, a stereotypical Australian greeting, is no longer synonymous with "good day" in other varieties of English (it can be used at night time) and is never used as an expression for "farewell", as "good day" is in other countries.
Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for places, flora and fauna (for example dingo, kangaroo). Beyond that, few terms have been adopted into the wider language, except for some localised terms, or slang. Some examples are cooee and Hard yakka. The former is a high-pitched call (pronounced /kʉː.iː/) which travels long distances and is used to attract attention. Cooee has also become a notional distance: if he's within cooee, we'll spot him. Hard yakka means hard work and is derived from yakka, from the Yagara/Jagara language once spoken in the Brisbane region. Also from the Brisbane region comes the word bung meaning broken. A failed piece of equipment might be described as having bunged up or referred to as "on the bung" or "gone bung". Bung is also used to describe an individual who is pretending to be hurt; such individual is said to be "bunging it on".
Though often thought of as an Aboriginal word, didgeridoo (a well known wooden ceremonial musical instrument) is probably an onomatopaoeic word of Western invention. It has also been suggested that it may have an Irish derivation.[5]
Main article: List of English words of Australian Aboriginal origin
[edit] Spelling
Australian spelling is almost always the same as British spelling, with only a few exceptions (for example, program is more common than programme).[6][7][8] Publishers, schools, universities and governments typically use the Macquarie Dictionary as a standard spelling reference. Both -ise and -ize are accepted, as in British English, but -ise is the preferred form in Australian English by a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Macquarie's Australian Corpus of English.
There is a widely held belief in Australia that "American spellings" are a modern intrusion, but the debate over spelling is much older and has little to do with the influence of North American English. For example, a pamphlet entitled The So-Called "American Spelling.", published in Sydney some time before 1900, argued that "there is no valid etymological reason for the preservation of the u in such words as honor, labor, etc." The pamphlet noted, correctly, that "the tendency of people in Australasia is to excise the u, and one of the Sydney morning papers habitually does this, while the other generally follows the older form".
Many Australian newspapers once excised the u, for words like colour but do not anymore, and the Australian Labor Party retains the -or ending it officially adopted in 1912. Because of a backlash to the perceived "Americanisation" of Australian English, there is now a trend to reinsert the "u" in words such as harbour. The town of Victor Harbor has the Victor Harbour Railway Station and the municipality's official website speculates that excising the u from the town's name was originally a "spelling error".[9] This continues to cause confusion in how the town is named in official and unofficial documents [10]
Although the spelling jail prevails, gaol is still used in official contexts.
In academia, as long as the spelling is consistent, the usage of various English variants is generally accepted.[citation needed]
[edit] Varieties of Australian English
Main articles: Varieties of Australian English and Regional variation in Australian English
Most linguists consider there to be three main varieties of Australian English. These are Broad, General and Cultivated Australian English. These three main varieties are actually part of a continuum and are based on variations in accent. They often, but not always, reflect the social class and/or educational background of the speaker.
Broad Australian English is the archetypal and most recognisable variety. It is familiar to English speakers around the world because of its use in identifying Australian characters in non-Australian films and television programs. Examples include television/film personalities Steve Irwin and Paul Hogan.
General Australian English is the stereotypical variety of Australian English. It is the variety of English used by the majority of Australians and it dominates the accents found in contemporary Australian-made films and television programs. Examples include actors Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe (who, while he was born and partly-raised in New Zealand, does not speak New Zealand English).
Cultivated Australian English has many similarities to British Received Pronunciation, and is often mistaken for it. Cultivated Australian English is now spoken by less than 10% of the population. Examples include actors Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush.
It is sometimes claimed that there are regional variations in pronunciation and accent. If present at all, however, they are very small compared to those of British and American English — so much so that linguists are divided on the question. Overall, pronunciation is determined less by region than by social, cultural and educational influences, as well as by a general difference between urban and rural voices that can be heard throughout Australia.
There is a minor difference in the pronunciation of words such as dance, chance, advance, branch, etc. In Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, the older pronunciation of these words, choosing IPA: /æ/, is preferred, whereas in South Australia, the IPA: /aː/, found in received pronunciation, is preferred. In singing the national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, the [əd'vaːns] is often the preferred pronunciation of "advance" where it might otherwise be pronounced [əd'væːns] in the eastern states. In NSW, "castle" and derivatives are pronounced with the /aː/ whereas in Victoria, the word is commonly pronounced with the /æ/. So Newcastle in New South Wales is pronounced with /aː/ while Castlemaine in Victoria is pronounced with the /æ/. Other words such as command and grasp may be pronounced with an 'æ' or an 'a', while graph is mostly pronounced with the 'æ' and graphic and lather are nearly always pronounced with the 'æ' sound.
There is also some variation in Australian English vocabulary between different regions. Of particular interest in this respect are sporting terms and terms for food, clothing and beer glasses.
[edit] Use of words by Australians
Many Australians believe themselves to be direct in manner and/or admire frank and open communication. Such sentiments can lead to misunderstandings and offence being caused to people from other cultures.
For instance, spoken Australian English is generally more tolerant of offensive and/or abusive language than other variants. Many politicians are exponents of this style in Parliament. Former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating called opponents "mangy maggot" and "stupid foul-mouthed grub". Mark Latham, a former Labor Leader of The Opposition referred to Prime Minister John Howard as an "arse licker" and described a visit to see US President George W. Bush as "a conga line of suckholes" heading to Washington.[11] Liberal Health Minister Tony Abbott called an opponent a "snivelling grub".
An important aspect of Australian English usage, inherited in large part from Britain and Ireland, is the use of deadpan humour, in which a person will make extravagant, outrageous and/or ridiculous statements in a neutral tone, and without explicitly indicating they are joking.
Another archetype is a laconic sense of irony, which can extend to nicknames given to friends and co-workers - a tall man can be nicknamed 'Shorty', or a red-haired man called 'Bluey' (although this latter example is far less common today than through to the late 1960s, as during the 1970s many Australians moved to adopt a less parochial and more international flavour to their language as part of the 'cultural cringe' which saw notions of Australian culture as being inferior to that of more developed western nations[citation needed]).
Australian English makes frequent use of diminutives. They can be formed in a number of ways and can be used to indicate familiarity. Some examples include arvo (afternoon), servo (service station), bottle-o (bottle-shop), barbie (barbecue), cozzie (swimming costume), footy (Rugby League or Australian rules football) and mozzie (mosquito). Similar diminutives are commonly used for personal nicknames (Johnno, Fitzy). Occasionally a -za diminutive is used, usually for personal names where the first of multiple syllables ends in an "r", so Barry becomes Bazza and Sharon Shazza.
Many phrases once common to Australian English have become the subject of common stereotypes, over-use and Hollywood's caricaturised over-exaggerations, even though they have largely disappeared from everyday use. Words being used less often include cobber, strewth, you beaut and crikey, and archetypal phrases like flat out like a lizard drinking are rarely heard without a sense of irony.
The phrase put a shrimp on the barbie is a misquotation of a phrase that became famous after being used by Paul Hogan in tourism advertisements that aired in America. Most Australians use the term prawn rather than shrimp, and do not commonly barbecue them. Many people trying to impersonate or mock an Australian will use this line, though Australians themselves would never have used this line.
Australia's unofficial national anthem Waltzing Matilda written by bush poet Banjo Paterson, contains many obsolete Australian words and phrases that appeal to a rural ideal and are understood by Australians even though they are not in common usage outside this song. One example is the title, which means travelling (particularly with a type of bed roll called a swag).
[edit] Samples of Australian English
One of the first writers to attempt renditions of Australian accents and vernacular was the novelist Joseph Furphy (a.k.a. Tom Collins), who wrote a popular account of rural New South Wales and Victoria during the 1880s, Such is Life (1903). C. J. Dennis wrote poems about working class life in Melbourne, such as The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke (1915), which was extremely popular and was made into a popular silent film (The Sentimental Bloke; 1919). John O'Grady's novel They're a Weird Mob has many examples of pseudo-phonetically written Australian speech in Sydney during the 1950s, such as "owyergoinmateorright?" ("How are you going, mate? All right?") Thomas Keneally's novels set in Australia, particularly The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, frequently utilise vernacular such as "yair" for "yes" and "noth-think" for "nothing". Another book of note is "Let's Talk Strine" by Afferbeck Lauder, where "Strine" is "Australian" and "Afferbeck Lauder" is "alphabetical order" (the book is in alphabetical order). Also of interest is a book called "How to be Normal in Australia".
Some Australian actors use their natural speaking voices in international films and television programs. However, Australian actors in non-Australian productions generally use non-Australian accents, or they adjust their natural accent, so that it is broader and closer to the archetypal modern Australian accent. One example of an internationally-popular film that had several characters with Australian accents is Finding Nemo, a 2003 feature-length cartoon. Characters in the film with Australian accents include: Nigel the Pelican, the three sharks, the sewage-eating crab and the dentist.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation provides many free streams of its radio programs through the world wide web.
New Zealand English
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New Zealand English (NZE) is the English spoken in New Zealand.
New Zealand English is close to Australian English in pronunciation, but has several subtle differences often overlooked by people from outside these countries. Some of these differences show New Zealand English to have more affinity with the English of southern England than Australian English does. Several of the differences also show the influence of Māori speech. The most striking difference from Australian and other forms of English (although shared partly with South African English) is the flattened i of New Zealand English. The New Zealand accent also has some Scottish and Irish influences from the large number of settlers from those places during the 19th century.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Historical development
• 2 Spelling
• 3 Māori influence
o 3.1 Pronunciation of Māori place names
• 4 New Zealand English vocabulary
• 5 Differences from British English
o 5.1 Front vowels and the flattened 'i'
o 5.2 Additional schwa
o 5.3 Distinction between /eə/ and /ɪə/
o 5.4 Lack of distinction between /ɔ/ and /ɐ/
o 5.5 Lack of distinction between ferry and fairy
o 5.6 Use of mixed vowels
o 5.7 Rising inflection
o 5.8 Use of she as third person neuter
• 6 Differences from Australian English
o 6.1 Short 'i'
o 6.2 Short 'e'
o 6.3 Chance, dance, etc.
o 6.4 Fool, pool, etc.
o 6.5 Bird, nurse, etc.
o 6.6 Schwa in unstressed syllables
o 6.7 Letter 'h'
o 6.8 Letter 'l'
o 6.9 Vocabulary differences
• 7 Dialects within New Zealand English
• 8 Dictionaries of New Zealand English
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 11 Further reading
• 12 External links
[edit] Historical development
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
A distinct New Zealand variant of the English language has been in existence since at least 1912, when Frank Swinnerton described it as a "carefully modulated murmur," though it probably goes back further than that. From the beginning of British settlement on the islands, a new dialect began to form due to the need to adopt Maori words to describe the flora and fauna of New Zealand, for which English did not have any words of its own.[1]
[edit] Spelling
Where there is a distinct difference between British and US spelling (such as colour/color and travelled/traveled), the British spelling is universally found in New Zealand - New Zealand English sticks very closely to British English in spelling, more so than does Australian English. Some Americanisms have begun to creep in through their exposure in mass media (such as "thru" for "through" in informal contexts), though these spellings are non-standard.
Despite mass media exposure (through early childhood programmes such as Sesame Street) to the American English pronunciation "zee" for the last letter of the alphabet, the British English "zed" is standard. This is reflected in the short form of the country name "NZ" ("en-zed"). The acronym is used in many organisational names including the band Split Enz, WINZ (Work and Income NZ, now a division of the Ministry of Social Development), TRADENZ (now NZ Trade and Enterprise), ENZA (which was the New Zealand Apple & Pear Marketing Board's trademarked brand for export pipfruit) or IPENZ (Institution of Professional Engineers NZ).
-ise
Possibly the most significant difference between New Zealand and British spelling is in the ending -ise or -ize. Although -ise is the more popular ending in both countries, some British dictionaries and style manuals prefer the -ize ending. New Zealand dictionaries and style manuals use the -ise ending almost exclusively.
Program/programme
As in British English, the word "program" is used for computer software, but the word "programme" is used for schedules, lists of events, and for items presented on television or radio.
Fiord
New Zealand is perhaps unique among English speaking countries in its spelling of the word fjord, favouring the spelling fiord. This is particularly apparent in the name of Fiordland, a rugged region in the country's southwest.
[edit] Māori influence
Main article: Māori influence on New Zealand English
Many local everyday words have been borrowed from the Māori language, including words for local flora, fauna and the natural environment. See Māori influence on New Zealand English.
The dominant influence of Māori on New Zealand English is lexical. A 1999 estimate based on the Wellington corpora of written and spoken New Zealand English put the proportion of words of Māori origin at approximately 0.6%, mostly place and personal names.
Another sphere in which Māori is ever present and has a significant conceptual influence is in the legislature, government, and community agencies (e.g. health and education), where legislation requires that proceedings and documents are translated into Māori (under certain circumstances, and when requested). Political discussion and analysis of issues of sovereignty, environmental management, health, and social well-being thus rely on Māori at least in part. Māori as a spoken language is particularly important wherever community consultation occurs.
[edit] Pronunciation of Māori place names
Many Māori place names suffered from a fairly ungainly anglicisation for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but since the 1980s increased consciousness of Māori has led to a shift back to correct pronunciations. The anglicisations have persisted most among natives of the towns in question, so it has become something of a shibboleth, with correct pronunciation marking someone as non-local.
As with many languages only recently written using the Roman/Latin alphabet, the pronunciation of Māori uses Italian (Latin) phonetics. 'a' is pronounced ah, 'i' is pronounced 'ee', etc. 'r' is rolled, similar to the softened 'd' in "shuddup" or "siddown" or "ta-dah!!". This makes Maori nearly completely phonetic.
Examples
Taumarunui taum-ranui tau-ma-ru-nu-i
Paraparaumu para-pram or pa-ram pa-ra-pa-ra-u-mu
Pauatahanui part-a-noo-ee pau-a-ta-ha-nu-i
Oakura oa-kra o-a-ku-ra
Hawera hara ha-we-ra
Te Awamutu tee-awa-moot or tee-a-mootu te-a-wa-mu-tu
Waikouaiti wacker-wite or weka-what wai-kou-a-i-ti
Katikati Kati-kat ka-ti-ka-ti
Otorohanga Oh-tra-hung-a or Oh-tra-hong-a o-to-ra-ha-nga
Papatoetoe Papp-a-toh-e pa-pa-to-e-to-e
To further confuse matters, many southern Māori words, which have a distinctive pronunciation that differs from standard Māori (one example being Mount Cook, which is Aorangi in standard Māori but Aoraki in southern Māori), are frequently mistaken for anglicisations and "corrected". These include the pronunciation of Oamaru as Om-a-roo and of Kawarau as Ka-warra.
A mixture of southern Māori speech patterns and anglicisation leads to a third trend, the removal of the final vowel of place names, or the reduction of final vowels to a schwa. This is particularly common in the southern South Island. This pattern also results in local shibboleths, and result in pronunciations such as Wakatip for Lake Wakatipu, and o-taag-uh for Otago.
[edit] New Zealand English vocabulary
There are also a number of dialectical words and phrases used in New Zealand English, although most of these are regarded as very informal, and are far more common in speech than writing. See main article New Zealand words.
[edit] Differences from British English
Main article: Phonemic differentiation
[edit] Front vowels and the flattened 'i'
A vowel shift has occurred in New Zealand English. Front vowels, with one exception, are pronounced higher in the mouth than in England English. RP /ɪ/, the unrounded near-close near-front lax vowel, has moved to /ə/ (schwa). Some non-NZ speakers mistakenly assert that, when New Zealanders say "fish and chips" they say "fush and chups". This may be asserted because of the lack of a letter for schwa. Below the latter word is how the former word sounds to the ears of a non-New Zealander:
• pan → pen
• pen → pin
• pin → pun
• pair → peer
As always when discussing accent differences, others may misinterpret the speech of New Zealanders because they pronounce their vowels differently due to their accent, but this must be distinguished from the (false) claim that New Zealanders do not speak properly.
[edit] Additional schwa
Some New Zealanders will insert the schwa to words such as grown, thrown and mown, resulting in grow-en, throw-en and mo-wen. However, groan, throne and moan are all unaffected, meaning these word pairs can be distinguished by ear, unlike in English English.
This has also been heard (rarely) in the pronunciation of the word three, where the schwa appears between the 'th' and the 'r', creating a two-syllable word, and in words such as dwarf and Dwane/Duane where the shwa appears between the 'd' and the 'w' (or 'u'), leading to puns like "Duosyllablic Duane".
[edit] Distinction between /eə/ and /ɪə/
In thicker New Zealand accents, words like "chair" and "cheer", (/tʃeə/, /tʃɪə/) are pronounced the same way (/tʃɪə/, that is as "cheer" in British, American or Australian English). The same occurs with "share" and "shear" (both pronounced /ʃɪə/), bear and beer, spare and spear. This pronunciation is not universal, and many New Zealanders do distinguish these words (IPA used for phonetic transcriptions).
Younger speakers tend to merge toward /ɪə/, while middle-aged speakers tend to merge toward /eə/. This merging has been seen in some other varieties of English, but notably not in Australian English.
[edit] Lack of distinction between /ɔ/ and /ɐ/
There is a tendency for some words in New Zealand English to be pronounced with /ɔ/ rather than the /ɐ/ found in Southern British English, especially in those cases where the vowel with this particular sound is a stressed "a". Thus words like "warrior" and "worrier" are harder to differentiate in New Zealand English than in many forms of English.
[edit] Lack of distinction between ferry and fairy
For many speakers of New Zealand English, the vowel in ferry is raised and becomes indistinguishable from fairy. The vowel length distinction, however, is almost always retained.
[edit] Use of mixed vowels
The common New Zealand pronunciation of the trans- prefix rhymes with "ants" and is likely to be a result of American English influence.[citation needed] This produces mixed pronunciation of the as in words like "transplant" whereas in northern (but not southern) British English the same vowel is used in both syllables.
[edit] Rising inflection
New Zealanders will often reply to a question with a statement spoken with a rising inflection on the last couple of words (known in linguistics as a high rising terminal). This often has the effect of making their statement sound like another question. This effect is heightened by the common local practise of adding "eh" to the end of sentences ( ie "It was choice[great] eh", "I got a job eh" ). There is enough awareness of this that it is seen in exaggerated form in comedy parody of working class/uneducated New Zealanders. This rising inflection can also be heard at the end of statements which are not in response to a question but to which the speaker wishes to add emphasis. High rising terminals are also heard in various other regional forms of English.
[edit] Use of she as third person neuter
In informal speech some New Zealanders use the third person feminine she in place of the third person neuter it as the subject of a sentence, especially when the subject is the first word of the sentence. The most common use of this is in the phrase "She'll be right" meaning either "It will be okay" or "It is close enough to what is required".
[edit] Differences from Australian English
Although foreigners can find it hard to distinguish the New Zealand dialect from the Australian, there are differences in the pronunciation of vowel sounds, which are considerably more clipped in New Zealand English. (Canadians, similarly, are sometimes mistaken for U.S. Americans and vice versa by non-North Americans.)
The main distinguishing sounds are the short 'i' and 'e', as well as words like "chance", as described below.
[edit] Short 'i'
The short 'i' in New Zealand English is pronounced as a schwa /ə/. In Australian English, the short 'u' is often thought to be the vowel closest to the New Zealand pronunciation. So Australians frequently joke about New Zealanders having "fush and chups" instead of "fish and chips". However, it is really closer to an almost dropped vowel, so it's more like "f'sh and ch'ps".
Conversely, the closest sound in New Zealand English to the Australian short 'i' /ɪ/ is 'ee' /i/, so New Zealanders may hear Australians talking about the "Seedney Harbour Breedge". The 'i' in Australian English is lengthened relative to England English, possibly as a result of the influence of Italian immigrants. So New Zealanders frequently joke about Australians having "feesh and cheeps". Documentary films from the first half of the 20th century featuring both Australian and New Zealand voices show that the accents were more similar before the second world war and diverged mostly after the 1950s.
Recent linguistic research has suggested that the short, flat 'i' heard in New Zealand comes from dialects of English spoken by lower-class English people in the late nineteenth century, though why it persisted in New Zealand while disappearing from Australia is not known. It is, however, also encountered in Scottish English, and given the relatively higher level of Scottish emigration to New Zealand than Australia, this may also be an influence. The pronunciation of English vowels by native Māori speakers may also have influenced the New Zealand accent. There is a Māori/Polynesian accent distinct from the accent of native English speakers.
[edit] Short 'e'
The short 'e' in New Zealand English has moved to fill in the space left by 'i', and sounds like a short 'i' itself to other English speakers. For example, you may hear New Zealanders talk about having "iggs for brickfast" or hear an air hostess asking to "kollikt your hid-sits" (collect your head-sets).
[edit] Chance, dance, etc.
The New Zealand pronunciation of words like "dance" typically uses the same vowel sound as the "a" in "car", in other words /daːns/, resembling the broad A of British English; whereas in Australia, it can also be more similar to the North American /dæns/. However, /dæns/ is not universal in Australia, and it is also found in Southland (Bartlett 1992).
[edit] Fool, pool, etc.
Less known than dance/chance, but more diagnostic, is the pronunciation of /u/ followed by /-l/, as in fool and pool. /u/ is usually centralised, but is moved back and lowered, so that the vowel sounds more like "good" /ʊ/. Thus "fool" and "pool" sound like "full" and "pull" respectively. In contrast, Australian English retains the central position, and often adds a diphthong /əʉ/.
[edit] Bird, nurse, etc.
Another diagnostic pronunciation difference in /ɜ/ (e.g., bird and nurse). In New Zealand, it is fronted and slightly round /ɵ/, whereas in Australia it is further back.
[edit] Schwa in unstressed syllables
New Zealanders tend to be more likely to turn a vowel in an unstressed syllable into a schwa, although this is far from a universal trait. A clear example of this trait is shown in the pronunciation of Queensland, which in IPA terms would be /'kwinzlənd/ to a New Zealander (rhyming with "seasoned"), but /'kwinzˌlænd/ to an Australian (rhyming with "freehand"). However, both pronunciations occur in Australia.
[edit] Letter 'h'
Pronunciation of the name of the letter 'h' is usually /eɪtʃ/, as in Great Britain and North America, but can be the aspirated /heɪtʃ/ of Hiberno-English origin found in Australian English.
[edit] Letter 'l'
Pronunciation of the letter 'l' at the end of a word such as kill, is sometimes voiced as a 'w'.
This is further found in provincial cities and towns. Some speakers will not differentiate the sound of the word 'bill' from 'bull', and both will have the final 'l' sound changed to a 'w'. Even words such as 'build' will be affected and will sound like 'buwd'. A common use of this is the word 'milk' usually said 'muwk' (rhyming with 'bull(k)' to a speaker outside of New Zealand). Although this varies greatly in different areas and between different socio-economic groups within New Zealand itself. This seems to be most commonly found in South Auckland.
[edit] Vocabulary differences
Other differences in the dialects relate to words used to refer to common items, often based on major brands:
NZ Australia Explanation
Cellphone / mobile / mobile phone (cell) Mobile phone
(mobile) A portable telephone.
Chilly bin Esky
Insulated container for keeping drinks and food cool.
Dairy
Milk bar
Delicatessen
A kind of convenience store. Note that the term delicatessen is used in New Zealand for a somewhat different purpose, referring to a section of a supermarket serving specialist foods such as salamis, fine cheeses, and the like.
Domain, field
oval An area normally used for recreational purposes, usually grass/earth.
Duvet
doona A padded quilt.
Jandals
thongs Backless sandals (otherwise known as "flip-flops" or "Japanese sandals").
Judder bar Speed bump
Humps or the like in urban or suburban roads, designed to limit the speed of traffic.
No exit No through road A road with a dead end; a cul-de-sac.
Private bag Locked bag
(also "private mail bag") Special mail delivery for large organisations.
Oil skin Driza-Bone
(also "oil skin parka") Country raincoat.
Togs
Bathers
Swimmers
Cozzies
Togsa Swimwear (see Australian words for swimwear)
Trolley Shopping trolley
A device, usually four-wheeled, for transporting shopping within supermarket precincts.
Trundler Shopping jeep A two-wheeled device for transporting shopping from local shops (now rarely seen).
Tramp Bush walk Bush-walking or hiking.
Twink White-Out Correction fluid.
a Used mainly in Queensland northern New South Wales.
In New Zealand, the word "milk bar" refers only to the milk bar of the 1950s and 1960s, a place that served non-alcoholic drinks, primarily milkshakes, tea and sometimes coffee. Ice creams were also served.
A traditional difference, between the New Zealand "varsity" and the Australian "uni" (for "university"), is rapidly disappearing with the adoption of "uni" into New Zealand vocabulary.
[edit] Dialects within New Zealand English
Most Kiwis speak Newzild "as she is spoke": geographical variations appear slight, and mainly confined to individual special local words.
However, one group of speakers is recognised as having a distinct way of talking: the south of the South Island (Murihiku) harbours a "Celtic fringe" of people speaking with a "Southland burr" in which a trilled 'r' appears prominently. This dialect is also rhotic; that is, speakers pronounce the 'r' in "bird", "work" as the 'r' sound is said at the beginning of a word, and so on, while other New Zealanders do not. This southern area formed a traditional repository of immigration from Scotland. Several words and phrases common in Scots or Scottish English still persist in this area as well. Some examples of this include the use of wee to mean "small", and phrases such as to do the messages meaning "to go shopping". Many of the region's place names also reflect their Scottish origin, such as those of the region's two main cities (Invercargill and Dunedin) which both have Scots Gaelic origins.
The trilled 'r' is also used by some Māori speakers, who may also pronounce 't' and 'k' sounds almost as 'd' and 'g', especially in the south of the country (see Māori language for more details). This is also encountered in South African English, especially among Afrikaans speakers. The Māori 'r', though, is more like a short 'd'.
Some speakers from the West Coast of the South Island retain a half Australian accent from the region's 19th century goldrush settlers.
[edit] Dictionaries of New Zealand English
The first comprehensive dictionary dedicated to New Zealand English was probably the Heinemann New Zealand dictionary, published in 1979. Edited by Harry Orsman, it is a comprehensive 1,300-page book, with information relating to the usage and pronunciation of terms that were both widely accepted throughout the English-speaking world and those peculiar to New Zealand. It includes a one-page list of the approximate date of entry into common parlance of many terms found in New Zealand English but not elsewhere, such as "haka" (1827), "Boohai" (1920), and "bach" (1905).
In 1997, Oxford University Press produced the Dictionary of New Zealand English, which it claimed was based on over forty years of research. This research started with Orsman's 1951 thesis and continued with his editing this dictionary. To assist with and maintain this work, the New Zealand Dictionary Centre was founded in 1997. Since then it has published several more dictionaries of New Zealand English, culminating in the publication of The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary in 2004.
A more light-hearted look at English as spoken in New Zealand, A personal Kiwi-Yankee dictionary, was written by American-born Otago University psychology lecturer Louis Leland in 1980. This slim but entertaining volume lists many of the potentially confusing and/or misleading terms for Americans visiting or migrating to New Zealand. A second edition was published during the 1990s
Australian Aboriginal English
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Australian Aboriginal English (AAE) is a term referring to the various varieties of the English language used by Indigenous Australians. These varieties, which developed differently in different parts of Australia, differ systematically from Standard Australian English (SAE). While the different regional varieties of AAE have much in common they also differ in various ways, reflecting the local indigenous Australian languages
Aboriginal English varies along a continuum, from forms close to standard English to more nonstandard forms. The furthest extent of this is Kriol, which is regarded by linguists as a distinct language from English. Speakers change between different forms according to social context.
Several features of AAE are shared with creole languages spoken in nearby countries, such as Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea, Pijin in the Solomon Islands, and Bislama in Vanuatu.
AAE terms, or derivative terms, are sometimes used by the broader Australian community. This is particularly true in outback areas, where the indigenous population is generally more significant than in urban and suburban areas.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Phonology
• 2 Grammar
o 2.1 Pronouns
o 2.2 "Fellow"
• 3 Lexicon
o 3.1 Kin terms
o 3.2 Business
o 3.3 Camp
o 3.4 Deadly
o 3.5 Gammon
o 3.6 Gubbah
o 3.7 Humbug
o 3.8 Mob
o 3.9 Yarn
• 4 References
• 5 See also
• 6 External links
[edit] Phonology
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Pronouns
Although he and him are masculine pronouns in standard English, in Aboriginal English, particularly in northern Australia, it may also be used for females and inanimate objects. The distinction between he as the subjective form and him as the objective form is not always observed, and him may be found as the subject of a verb.
[edit] "Fellow"
In some forms of Aboriginal English, fellow (also spelt fella, feller, fullah, fulla etc.) is used in combination with adjectives or numerals, e.g. big fella business = "important business", one-feller girl = "one girl". This can give it an adverbial meaning, e.g. sing out big fella = "call out loudly". It is also used with pronouns to indicate the plural, e.g. me fella = "we" or "us", you fella = "you".
[edit] Lexicon
[edit] Kin terms
Main article: Australian Aboriginal kinship
Words referring to one's relatives are used in different senses to Standard English, reflecting traditional kinship systems.
• Aunty and uncle are used as terms of address for older people, to whom the speaker may not be related.
• Brother and sister include close relatives of the same generation, not just siblings.
• Cousin includes any relative of one's own generation.
• The combinations cousin-brother and cousin-sister are used to refer to biological cousins.
• In south-east Queensland, daughter is used to refer to any woman of one's great-grandparents' generation. This is due to the cyclical nature of traditional kinship systems.
• Father and mother include any relative of one's parents' generation, such as uncles, aunts, and in-laws.
• Grandfather and grandmother can refer to anyone of one's grandparents' generation. Grandfather can also refer to any respected elderly man, to whom the speaker may not be related.
• Poison refers to a relation one is obligated to avoid. See Mother-in-law language.
• The term second, or little bit in northern Australia, is used with a distant relative who is described using a close kinship term. For example, one's second fathers or little bit fathers are men of one's father's generation not closely related to the speaker. It is contrasted with close, near or true.
• A skin or skin group are sections which are determined by the skin of a person's parents, and determine who a person is eligible to marry.
• Son can refer to any male of the next generation, such as nephews.
[edit] Business
Many Aborigines use the word business in a distinct way, to mean matters. Funeral and mourning practices are commonly known as Sorry Business. Financial matters are referred to as Money Business, and the secret-sacred rituals distinct to each gender are referred to as Secret Women's Business and Secret Men's Business.
[edit] Camp
Many Aborigines refer to their house as their camp, particularly in Central Australia.
[edit] Deadly
Deadly is used by many Aboriginal people to mean excellent, very good, in the same way that wicked is by other English speakers. The Deadlys are awarded for outstanding achievement by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. This usage is not exclusive to Aborigines.
[edit] Gammon
Victorian English word for pretend. Still used by some Australian Aborigines to mean joking generally. Gammoning – usually pronounced Gam'in'.
[edit] Gubbah
Gubbah is a term used by some Aboriginal people to refer to white people. It is a shortening of the word Government, since traditionally Aborginal people's contact with whites most often involved government officials. Another theory is that it is a contraction of Governor. It has also been said to mean "White Ghost".
[edit] Humbug
Whereas humbug in broader English (see Charles Dickens's Scrooge character) means nonsensical, or unimportant information, humbug in Aboriginal English means to pester with inane or repetitive requests. The Warumpi Band's most recent album is entitled Too Much Humbug. In the Northern Territory, humbug is used by both black and white in this latter, Aboriginal way.
[edit] Mob
Regularly used to mean a group of people. Unlike broader English, it does not usually mean an indiscriminate crowd, but a cohesive group. My mob – my people, or extended family. Mob is also often used to refer to a language group – that Warlpiri mob. This term is also found in the name of outback New South Wales hip-hop group, The Wilcannia Mob.
[edit] Yarn
English word for a long story, often with incredible or unbelievable events. In Australian English, and particularly among Aborigines, has become a verb, to talk. Often, Yarnin'.
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